Naru Hime
by Sword Whisperer
Summary: NarutoMy Hime Crossover fic... After the destruction of the Hime Star the Hime's all lost their Elements and Childs. What if they didn't just disappear but choose to find new masters. Naru Kazama, has gotten Kagutsuchi and the Inferno Spirals.
1. The death and birth of legends revised

Naru HiME: The Death and Birth of Legends 

Arashi Kazama sighed as he looked out the tower window in his office towards the ever growing red glow on the horizon. He sighed again as he thought of how it all began.

It all began on that day, the day that the Kyubi No Kitsune attacked the Hidden Village of Konoha. Nobody knew how the Kyubi awakened or why it was attacking Konoha specifically, all they knew was that they needed to stop it, they needed to fight back, and so they did. The Yondaime gave orders to just hold back the beast until he got there with a plan to defeat it.

It was a terrible battle and many lives were lost, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, whole families, they were all destroyed. But the ninja of Konoha didn't give up, knowing that if they did, all would be lost, though hope was slowly slipping away.

There were many attempts to stop the fox and some nearly succeeded only to be stopped by the foxes near limitless and highly potent power, not to mention its unbelievable regeneration powers. The Hyuga had their Oufans distract the Kyubi while they attempted to seal the tenketsu points in it body in to weaken it enough to kill but it reopened them by forcing them back open.

The Akimichi with their Oufans used their techniques to try and over power the beast through sheer physical force, but the Kyubi again defeated them through use of its chakra and demonic ninjutsu. The Aburame along with their Oufans to help them tried using all of their Kikai Bugs to suck the Kyubi dry but they were sated as soon as they touched the beast so they were virtually ineffective.

The Uchiha clan with their famous doujutsu the Sharingan attempted to use a mass clan genjutsu in an effort to confuse the beast. So much so that it was to be unable to use its power so easily but again their plan was foiled by the fact that the Kyubi was anything but stupid and merely flared its chakra so much that it temporarily blinded the Sharingan users. It was only due to their Oufans that so many were saved.

Arashi chuckled sadly as he thought about where they would all be if it wasn't for the Oufans. Those partially sentient, very strong and mysterious creatures had only been on their planet for nigh of a thousand years. They had in fact only been their ninja partners for seven centuries. Legends say that when the Oufans had first shown up on their planet, they were blood thirsty creatures, and it had been highly fortunate that they didn't breed like humans. That had changed when seven hundred years ago an unknown ninja had somehow managed to tame a small herd of Oufans and trained them to help him battle opponents from other villages, his village became very powerful and eventually more villages learned how to tame the Oufans until such a time it just became a fact of life that Oufan's were partners of the ninja, the villages that did this eventually came to be known as the five hidden villages of the elemental countries. The relationship between a ninja and his Oufan was very much like the relationship of an Inuzuka ninja and his Nin-dog. Oufans came in all different shapes and sizes and abilities that it was very difficult to characterize them. However there were limits to who could have an Oufan partner and the main rule was that you have to be at least high Chuunin to low Jounin, as it was a fact that sometimes the Oufans could be little difficult to control and they sometimes manage to kill their partner in anger, though this of course only happened very rarely.

Arashi was suddenly distracted from his thoughts when a ninja messenger appeared behind him and knelt on the ground, bloodied and apparently very exhausted.

"Yondaime-sama…. Kyubi…. too powerful…. can't stop…. many dead…. many wounded…. can't last…. much longer" panted the ninja ('Shinji' if Arashi remembered correctly) forcing the message between pants until Arashi laid a hand on the ninja shoulder causing him look up.

Arashi smiled a little "Calm down Shinji, catch your breath first then give me the report" he reassured the exhausted Nin keeping a steadying hand on his shoulder. Shinji just nodded in thanks and concentrated on get his breathing back under control.

When he was finally calm enough, he shrugged the hand off and slowly stood up at attention and gave a salute to which Arashi replied with another salute before barking out

"Report!" which caused the Shinji to salute again, before giving the report in a more understandable form.

"Sir, I have just returned from the front lines sir, it isn't going well sir, one third of our forces are MIA presumed dead, another third is injured and the hospital is swamped with the evacuees, which only leaves the last third in battle ready condition, though they too are exhausted and the Kyubi continues to advance. It is expected that the beast will reach the village walls in another twenty minutes" Shinji continued to wait at attention expecting to be getting another message to take back the front lines and he wasn't be disappointed.

Arashi frowned at the message, there apparently wasn't much more time available when he suddenly caught movement in the corner of his eye and turned to look at it. He saw the door to his study open to see the former Sandaime Hokage Sarutobi standing there. Arashi looked at him silently asking if it was done.

Sarutobi caught the unasked question and merely nodded in return to which Arashi nodded and turned his attention to the messenger "Chuunin Shinji Karatik"

Shinji stood at attention awaiting the message he was to take back to the front lines.

"You are to return back to the front lines with this message 'Hold out for five more minutes, at which time I will come to defeat the Kyubi myself"

Arashi couldn't help but wince a little at the look of sudden hope that blossomed in the young mans eyes when he heard that and Shinji saluted his Hokage much more enthusiastically than before and saying "Yes Sir, Yondaime-sama!" before jumping out the window with a renewed level of energy that could only come with a sense of hope.

* * *

Arashi watch the ninja leave for a few seconds before turning back to address Sarutobi.

"Is it done?" Arashi asked as he strode past the former Hokage into his study where he looked down onto his desk. Where a young girl, barely over four hours old, was gently sleeping in her cradle covered with various different seals which Sarutobi had carefully inscribed on her body with special chakra imbued ink designed for seals.

Arashi's eyes were inexorably drawn to a red, comet shaped mark on her upper chest, a sort of birth mark, if he concentrated he could feel a vast power laying dormant in her body and the birth mark was connected to it. Arashi finally succumbed to his desires and allowed himself to gently stroke the yellow fuzz on his daughter's small and fragile head.

"It is done" Sarutobi affirmed before watching with a sad face as Arashi picked up the precious bundle into his arms and started to gently rock his young baby girl. The young girl woke up with a start before turning to look at the man above her. He looked into her eyes, those intensely blue and purple eyes that shone with an innocence and instinctive trust that only a young child could show, though she surprised him a little, for although she was so young and innocent her gaze was quite strong and piecing much an adults. It bespoke of a strong will, much like his own which made Arashi smile proudly as only a father could. The child yawned and smiled sleepily before snuggling closer to her father and falling back asleep. Sarutobi just smiled, there was already a strong bond between the two, he felt that the two would have been inseparable had they been allowed to continue their relationship together, Father and daughter forever.

Arashi could only smile sadly and remarked "She is so much like her mother, that strong gaze in her _purple_ and blue specked eyes" Arashi silently regretted the decision he was about to make but continued to rock her lest he cause her stress.

Sarutobi couldn't hold it in any longer "Arashi are you absolutely sure that you need to do this, because I could do this as well, think of your daughter, if we go through this she will need you more than any daughter has needed her father before, the villagers will not see her as a hero but the demon itself, Naru should not have to go through that, and what's more, should it really be her specifically? Surely there must be someone else who could do it?"

"No Sarutobi-sama I have made up my mind! I am the Hokage and therefore it is my duty as the Hokage to see this plan through to the end, and it has to be Naru because she is the only one I could trust with this burden, not to mention I couldn't possibly force it upon another family"

Arashi's expression turned pensive "There is something else about her, some sort of…. power I guess I should say, lies dormant in Naru's body, I can feel it, she will grow up to be quite powerful, I can feel it" Arashi looked out the window towards the Kyubi and then turned to look Sarutobi in the eye

"There is something else, I'm not really sure but I don't think that the Kyubi is doing this of its own free will" Sarutobi's head shot up and he barked "Explain!"

Arashi looked out the window "When I went out to watch the Kyubi myself I noticed with my chakra senses that there was an invisible seal on it forehead from which chakra was flowing into its body as if to control its thoughts, actions and appearance"

Arashi looked at Sarutobi with a worried look "I think someone has taken control of it though some unknown means and directed it to attack us"

Sarutobi's expression turned serious "If that is true then this incident has turned a whole lot more serious"

Arashi nodded "Indeed, but unfortunately I can't do anything about it except to defeat the Kyubi and insure the safety of my village".

Arashi and Sarutobi were suddenly brought back into reality when a horrible screech echoed through the air and they were suddenly all business.

"I must go now" Arashi said as he hoisted baby Naru into a more secure grip so that she didn't fall "I left a couple letters on my desk, one is for you and one is my will and the others are for Jiraiya, Hiashi and my personal Anbu Tessai" Arashi paused here and looked at Naru "One is for Naru when you feel that she is ready for it, when she capable of defending herself"

Sarutobi just nodded before saying "I will get there as soon as I can so that I can get Naru before you die so that she doesn't get hurt"

Arashi nodded and turned to the window but then he paused and strode back to stand in front of Sarutobi who looked at him askance, Arashi just presented a hand and said "It was a pleasure serving under you Sandaime-sama, and it was an even greater pleasure being your friend Sarutobi"

Sarutobi smiled and took the proffered hand and gave it a firm shake as between comrades before saying "The pleasure was all mine Arashi, though I find it very disappointing and unfair that you couldn't continue your reign as the Yondaime, I am not looking forward to dusting off my old robes"

Arashi suddenly grimaced "By the way Sarutobi, don't be very surprised if Tessai becomes Naru's personal Anbu of sorts, he is very loyal to the Kazama family, he won't do any missions for her at least until she is a Jounin or anyone else for that matter, but he will help her as much as he can, while still remaining hidden, probably by becoming her intelligence operative, he is _very_ good at find stuff he shouldn't know, hell even I don't know how he gets his information, he was even able to help me keep tabs on Danzo, and you know how private he is"

Sarutobi just nodded before smiling sadly "Thanks for the heads up…. Goodbye Arashi"

Arashi just grinned before making a certain hand seal and disappeared in a flash of golden light.

A few minutes later had one been passing through at the time, they would have seen the saddening sight of a normally powerful man despite his age, sitting in the Hokage's chair, face hiding behind his hands looking very old and worn down and sobbing silently, his body shaking

* * *

Arashi appeared again in his famous flash that gave him the name of the Yellow Flash of Konoha, the result of him using his Hirashin no Jutsu much to the joy of his subordinates.

There were various shouts of "Yondaime-sama!" and "We're saved, he'll defeat the Kyubi" Arashi ignored them and strode forward to look at the Kyubi all the while making sure that Naru was safe in his arms.

Arashi took one last look around, spotting various familiar faces around him, all smiling in relief and Arashi once again affirmed his vow to protect them.

Arashi looked down at his daughter and said "Well Naru, lets go get him!" and Arashi began another familiar set of seals which ended with him slamming his hand on the ground while shouting "Gamabunta! Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

There was suddenly a whole lot of smoke in the air and Arashi felt the sensation of going upwards very quickly, and when the smoke cleared one could see that Arashi was now standing on the head of a very large frog that was nearly as large as the Kyubi itself. The Kyubi of course took notice of the new threat and started moving towards the large frog.

The frog underneath him suddenly took a pipe that was in its mouth into its hand and blew a cloud of smoke into the air before speaking in a loud voice "**Hey Arashi, why did you summon me and who is that in your arms?**"

"This is my new baby daughter Naru, and please speak quietly for now she is still somehow still asleep and as for the reason why you are here, look forward" Arashi spoke a little amused.

Kyubi waved one of its tails which attracted Gamabunta's attention who then nearly choked on his pipe when he saw the Kyubi no Kitsune slowly advancing towards the duo, trio if you included Naru.

"**Kyubi!! What is **_**she**_** doing here?**" Gamabunta whispered a little apprehensively.

_Kyubi is a female? _Arashi nearly did a double take when he heard that but managed not to and replied "I don't know, but I am sure that she isn't acting of her own free will"

Gamabunta nodded in agreement "**Then you would be correct Arashi, she would not be doing this of her own free will, whatever the circumstances, because unlike the rest of the Biju demons Kyubi is actually quite a kind and honorable demon, how that is possible I don't know, it just is, she must be under the influence of some seal that I don't know of**"

Arashi gritted his teeth in anger "So I was right, the Kyubi is innocent, but unfortunately there is no way that I know that can remove such a powerful seal except to remove the soul from the body, and that is what we have to do Gamabunta, I need you to restrain the Kyubi while I…." Arashi sighed regretfully at this part "While I perform the Shiki Fuujin"

Gamabunta shifted a little in order to look at Arashi more clearly "**The Shiki Fuujin? Arashi you know what happens when you use that seal**"

Arashi sighed "Yes I know the price of this seal Gamabunta, but it is the only way!"

Gamabunta looked at the young girl in his arms "**I presume that you are going Naru as the medium to hold Kyubi's soul? Are you sure about this Arashi? The life of a Jinchuriki is anything but easy, considering that most people consider them the demons themselves and they are usually killed by the people out of fear, and even if she does somehow survive it will not be easy for her, everyday will be a struggle for her to live.**"

"**I KNOW GAMABUNTA!!**" Arashi shouted but then calmed down "Sorry Gamabunta, but she is the only one I trust to carry this burden, and I can't just ask some other family to sacrifice their child and put the burden on them"

Gamabunta just looked forward saying "**No need to apologize Arashi, I understand**"

Gamabunta put his pipe back in his mouth and then he grabbed a short sword or dagger from his side and pulled it from the sheath into a ready stance.

"**Now then Arashi, let get down to business shall we**" Gamabunta said with an anticipatory smirk on his face.

"Yes, let do that Gamabunta" Arashi said with a similar smirk on his face before looking down at Naru, who by now was wide awake and watching everything with wide eyes.

"Hold on tight Naru, things are going to get a little rough" Arashi said with a tight grin to which Naru just blinked incomprehensively.

Gamabunta suddenly spoke up "**Hey Arashi if we live through this, I'll promise you now, that I'll help Naru as much as I can, as a favor, from one friend to another**"

Arashi was startled, it wasn't very often that a summon, much less Gamabunta promised something like that "But why Gamabunta?"

Gamabunta smirked "**Because I've already taken a liking to the kid, because not once has that kid cried since she got here and hasn't shown an ounce of fear, as most other children do when they're in a troublesome situation like this, I feel she will grow up to be quite the powerful Kunoichi even without the Kyubi**"

Arashi smiled proudly "Thanks Gamabunta" then he suddenly changed his whole attitude

"NOW LET'S KICK SOME FOXY BUTT!!!"

And with that the battle for survival was on. Gamabunta leaped into action with a large battle cry. He dove quickly at the Kyubi with his dagger poised in front of him like a spear in an effort to stab the demonic vixen who jumped out the way with a cry of "**Kitsune Flame bomb!**" shooting out a large ball of highly condensed blue flame from her mouth.

Gamabunta in turn evaded Kyubi's counter attack; the attack flew away only to explode a kilometer away in a large explosion which wiped put a large portion of Konoha forest.

Gamabunta repositioned his blade for another attack all the while keeping an eye on the Kitsune's movements "**Arashi it is going to get more rough than this I'm afraid, and if your intending to do the seal your going to need both your hands, so give Naru to a Kage Bunshin so that you can fight freely!**" he grunted.

Arashi nodded in agreement and made the familiar cross seal and created one Kage Bunshin who immediately took Naru from his master's arms so that Arashi could do his job with out worries.

Gamabunta decided to go for a different approach and sheathed his blade before jumping up into the air and assuming the frog version of a hand seal and shouted "**Suiton Teppoudama!" **and spat out three large bullets of water at the Kyubi at high speeds.

The Kyubi managed to evade the first two but didn't predict were the other was going to land and got hit in her left flank knocking her too the ground with a startle yelp of pain.

Arashi leaped off Gamabunta's head shouting "My turn!" Arashi ran at the Kyubi at high speeds and managed to get onto the kitsune's flank before it managed to recover. Arashi then ran up the Kyubi's side using chakra to stick to her fur and up onto Kyubi's back where he stabbed a special three pronged kunai into her flesh, which of course the Kyubi barely felt, if at all. Kyubi used one of her tails to try and knock Arashi off but it was far too late. The Yondaime disappeared in flash of yellow light before the tail got close to hitting him and reappeared a hundred meters above the Kitsune's head where he once again put his fingers into the cross seal, but this time instead of just one kage bunshin he summoned a hundred of them and they all disappeared in flash and appeared all over the Kyubi.

"PREPARE YOURSELF KYUBI!!!" all the Arashi's shouted in unison and held their hands too their sides and began to create another of his signature moves. Wisps of chakra started to collect in the cup of their hands, and then more and more chakra appeared and started rotating faster and faster until it seemed all the Arashi's held hurricanes in their hands and then as one they all thrust the destructive ball into the Kyubi's flesh with cry of "RASENGAN!!!!

The Kyubi's body almost seemed to ripple from the multiple shockwaves of all the rasengans used at the same time and Kyubi couldn't help but scream from the extreme and abrupt pain that had suddenly erupted from all over its body, even her insides were screaming.

Arashi couldn't maintain the clones and their rasengans much longer but he felt that he had managed to damage the Kyubi for long enough that he could perform the Shiki Fuujin.

The Arashi's all stopped attacking and all but one disappeared who was standing in front of the Kyubi's eyes. Arashi looked at Gamabunta who had been waiting tensely with Naru and his last clone on his head and shouted "QUICKLY WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME, GAMABUNTA SUMMON TWO MORE TOADS TOO HELP AND RESTRAIN THE KYUBI, CLONE BRING NARU HERE FOR THE SEALING"

Both Gamabunta and the clone obeyed the orders without question knowing that any delay could mean death. While Gamabunta and two of his soldier toads restrained the Kyubi the clone quickly brought Naru to her father.

Arashi quickly took one more look at the seals on Naru's torso, the central Shiki Fuujin, the chakra purification seal, the submission seal to control the Kyubi, plus the multiple chakra flow seals to help Naru control the Kyubi's chakra as easily as possible and the chakra suppression seals to prevent Naru from being flooded with too much chakra, the secondary seal to insure Kyubi's death in case something should happen to Naru, and a special seal that would prevent the seal being altered in any way, such as another seal being added that would block the Kyubi entirely from any hope of helping Naru survive.

Arashi nodded in satisfaction then turned back to the Kyubi before making a special seal sequence. At first nothing happened and then what seemed to be a white clothed Demon with a dagger between his teeth appeared behind him, Arashi looked over his shoulder in apathy, at the being known as the Shinigami _'So this is the Shinigami, heh, pretty human looking, though he looks old as dirt"_

Arashi looked down into the angry eyes of the Kyubi emotionlessly and said "Do it"

The Shinigami reached down through Arashi and somehow then grabbed onto its soul but suddenly the seal on the Kyubi started pulsing angrily but the Shinigami wouldn't have it and with a great wrench the soul of the Kyubi no Kitsune was in its hand. Arashi looked at the red glowing orb in awe. It seemed so much more pure than it was before, and it almost seemed as if it was glowing happily, Arashi suddenly heard a grateful voice in his head "_**Thank you Arashi Kazama, you did well, I am finally free of that thrice cursed seal, I know that I now have to be sealed inside your child, but I will look after her as much as I can, as if she were my own blood, I promise."**_

Arashi just nodded in thanks before looking at Naru at placing his hand on her belly and with tears of sorrow in his eyes said "I'm so sorry Naru that I can't be there for you, but this must be done, so know I love you very much and I am watching over you always"

Arashi bowed his head and said those three words that ended the life of one of the greatest ninja of the century and jump started the life of one the greatest legends in all history.

"Shiki Fuujin: SEAL!!!"

**This is my second Fanfic that I have started writing and hopefully I will be able to do more with this one than the other. I have always been a fan of Naruto and My HiME and I wondered what would happen that instead of just disappearing after the events of My HiME that instead the Childs and their corresponding Elements became separate entities and went out to find a new mistress. Then I thought "If an ordinary human could use the childs and elements so effectively, what could a ninja do? what could a Jinchuriki do? can Chakra be channeled through the elements to do jutsus, are the childs just limited to one or two attacks? I so decided to write this fanfic. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to review all you want.**

** SwordWhisperer**


	2. Dreams, Academy woes, and hope

**I do not own Naruto and My HiME as they belong to their respective owners, The only thing that belongs to me is the idea of doing this particular crossover which I feel has a lot of potential, if done right, so onto the next chapter!!! PS: I don't need to explain which speech belongs to who do I?**

Fear, anger, confusion and panic. This was all the young blond haired hanyou girl with fox ears could feel as she ran from a danger she could not yet see with her tail waving wildly behind her, this unknown danger which she could instinctively feel pursuing her through the forests of Konoha, hungering for her blood. She just kept running, not daring to look back. Her vision suddenly shifted and the girl was now stumbling and tripping down the side of Death Gorge. Death Gorge was the place was where the Kyubi had been defeated and the body left behind had exploded in a great explosion powerful enough to leave an enormous crater nearly four kilometers wide and a kilometer deep, the body had completely vanished. A forest had grown there in past few years, making it seem to be an enclosed forest, uncut off from the rest of the world as a seemly untouched paradise. The villagers had made a memorial on the lip of the crater in honor of the Yondaime who had also died there but nobody goes there though to pay their respects, as the villagers believe it to a cursed place.

There was a tall spire in the middle of the crater, how it had survived the explosion nobody could fathom a likely reason. The hanyou girl was still running from the danger that was closing in, forcing her to run in the only direction she could. Towards the spire.

Her vision suddenly shifted again and she was leaning against the base of the spire in front of what seemed to be a strange seal which funnily enough had a strange sword embedded in it. There were also what seemed to be eyes on the seal. Six of them.

This strange seal had mysteriously appeared 12 years ago barely a month after the Kyubi had apparently died. Many had come to take a look at the strange site, at least those who could and dared to go down. Some even tried to pull the blade out to see what would happen but none could even budge it a millimeter.

The girl felt her gaze inexorably drawn to the seal despite the danger surrounding her and when she laid eyes on the seal, she seemed to go into a trance, ignoring everything else but the seal. She could feel a great power emerging from the seal and at the same time she could feel a just as great but more wonderful feeling of power welling up inside her that burned like a great fire but warmed and excited her soul. She could hear a great heart beat pounding in he ears and she could feel her own heart synchronizing with the bigger one. The visage of a great white fiery dragon suddenly appeared before her eyes and bowed before her, crooning in a comforting tone (It sounded like whale song), as if promising it would forever serve her and protect her. The girl reached out to touch the great head, when suddenly the unknown danger suddenly reared its head and lunged towards her, claws slashing, and jaws snapping. The girl screamed.

* * *

"AAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!" screamed Naru, shooting up from her bed, and gasping for air. Naru's sweat soaked body trembled from stress accumulated over the course of the strange dream, her tail that was along side her was all messy and matted. Naru fell back onto her bed panting as if she had run to Suna and back. Naru willed herself to calm down and slowly but surely her body eventually stopped trembling and her panting slowed down. 

Naru brought her arm up to cover her eyes before quietly muttering "That bloody dream again, I've been having it every night for the past week, the stress must be getting to me, it is the finals tomorrow……… _hey Kyu-Chan do you know what going on?_" Naru asked her resident vixen mother/sister figure in her head, looking at her stomach at where the seal would be.

In the seal, Kyu, otherwise known as the Kyubi no Kitsune looked up sleepily from her conjured up bed in Naru's mindscape and sleepily replied "**I don't know Kit, but it isn't an ordinary dream, it is just too realistic to be otherwise, and that feeling of power you told me about, a part of your soul and your birthmark are actually responding to the dream so it might all be connected"**

Naru just sighed in aggravation "Yeah well, what ever it is, this dream is driving me crazy" Naru's eyes suddenly softened and she held her hands to her chest as if to retain a feeling "Though I must admit, this power that I felt rising up in my chest, it feels very pleasurable, comforting but also very familiar, and it also feels powerful"

Kyubi smiled softly to herself "**Whatever you say Kit, now I believe that you have somewhere to be right now? It is getting late"**

Naru looked confused for a few seconds before looking over at the old clock on her bedside table and had to stifle a panicked shout "Oh crap! I have to get to the academy!"

The young hanyou leaped out of bed in a frenzy to get ready and all Kyu could do was laugh at the young girl as she worked herself into a higher state pf panic, quickly taking a shower in her dingy bathroom, rushing to get dressed while at the same time trying to eat a bowl of Ramen.

When Naru started brushing and braiding her hair into a pony tail Kyu couldn't help commenting "**Remember to groom your tail!" **causing Naru to yelp "Hai!" before grabbing another brush for her tail from her dressing table. It took her a few minutes but she was finally ready and was about to leave and lock up to the Ninja Academy when she suddenly spied herself in her old full length mirror and couldn't help pausing to have a look at herself.

A black, tight, skin fitting, sleeveless zip-up full body suit adorned her torso and shoulders and ran down to end at about mid thigh, it had a white collar and a white strip on front that ran down her torso to end at about her hips and her tail stuck out the back stuck through a special hole. A dark red, sleeveless dress with slits on the side up to her hips with white trimmings was worn over the top of the body suit (it was very like Sakura Haruno's), tied with a white sash around her waist, to make sure she at least some sense of modesty. She was also wearing a black jacket tied securely around her hips, just to add too the look.

There were a pair of dark red elbow length, fingerless gloves on her hands coupled with a pair of metal wrist guards for more protection and on her feet she was wearing not the standard ninja sandals but a pair of black ankle length combat boots and she was also wearing special knee length socks or stockings for more protection of her legs.

Naru's eye glimmered with satisfaction; these clothes had been a gift from Kyubi to celebrate her entering the Ninja academy. Kyubi said that it had been an old outfit she used to wear two hundred years ago when she was in human form and that they would be able to protect her body better than any other armor there was, apparently the entire outfit was made of a special breed of Fire Rat fur that felt and breathed like silk, but was twice as strong as the original breed of fire rat and the boots were made of a special type of metal with a name she couldn't pronounce. It actually quite comfortable and it was never to warm or cold during any season of the year. They were charmed to grow or shrink to match the size of the owner; which was just as well as she had had this outfit since she was seven, the outfit allowed her to move freely and the body suit was supporting enough around the chest to provide support for her breasts during battle but not constrict her breathing.

Naru was actually quite developed for a twelve year old a 145 centimeters tall, an hour glass figure, thin waist, rounded hips, and a fair sized bust, most of the girls in the academy were jealous of her figure despite her young age. So over all, with her figure, fox tail and foxy ears on top of her head nestled amongst luxurious blond hair , crystal blue eyes with elongated pupils like a fox and elongated canine teeth and fire rat clothing she was a very cute, beautiful and sexy young Kunoichi.

"The perks of being a Jinchuriki I guess" Naru said with a shrug before turning to the door and walked over before suddenly remembering another very important thing she had to do before leaving. Naru sighed regretfully but did a series of hand seals and dully intoned "Kitsune Henge No Jutsu" causing her to pop in a cloud of smoke which slowly dispersed revealing that her tail and ears had disappeared and canine teeth shortened leaving her looking like an ordinary human.

Naru sighed regretfully before complaining "_I hate how I have to hide myself from the villagers, it feels like I'm missing a part of myself when I don't have my tail or ears, I can't wait for the day when I don't have to hide them and just show them the real me!_

_Not to mention that my abilities are severely limited to that of a normal human!"_

"**I know Kit, but until that day you have to hide them, it is for your own protection, now let's get going, you're late enough as it is"**

"Hai" Naru sung before leaping off to the Academy, making sure stop long enough to lock her door securely

* * *

The next day Naru could be seen running through the village on the way to the Academy for the finals. This would have looked like quite a peaceful scene, a child running through town on her way to school, if it wasn't for all the stares that were directed at her. Over the years Naru had learnt the subtle science of stares. There were the stares of villagers who watched her guardedly with amusement and guarded friendly smiles on their faces like they would with any other child but there was also sadness and wretchedness. These people were the ones who were able to see beyond the Kyubi to the lonely child underneath that was suffering but were unable to speak out and defend her or make friends with her because of the other villagers, at a third of the village was like this. Then there were the villagers that stared not at her in hatred but her stomach where the seal was located, these were the villagers that didn't hate the container itself, but were unable to get over the fact that the Kyubi was in her, this made up another third of the village and then there were the villagers that just stared at her outright hatred and intolerance, these were the villagers who thought that she herself was the Kyubi this accounted for the rest of the villagers. 

Naru had been receiving these stares for her entire life, so she just grinned back and bore it, knowing that someday, all her hard work would pay off and she would finally be able to achieve her dream of becoming the Hokage and being accepted into the village not as the village pariah but as a an equal, as a Ninja of Konoha.

Naru finally arrived at her usual classroom and took a quick look around and saw that like usual she was one of the last too show up, but unlike most days she had shown up on time. She could see all her friends spread out through the class room doing what it was they usually did. She could see Sasuke who like usual was sitting in his usual window seat doing the whole 'I'm a Teme' Gendo Ikari pose with his hands in front of his face.

Shikamaru Nara and Chouji Akimichi were sitting together doing what they usually did. Shikamaru was sleeping on his desk and Chouji was eating a very large bag of chips.

Naru's best friend Hinata Hyuga was sitting at a desk looking very unsure of herself and very shy, Naru made a mental note too cheer her up later. Her somewhat friends Kiba Inuzuka and Akamaru the Nin-dog were sitting and playing quietly together. Due to the fact that she was a Kitsune hanyou, she was able to understand other animals quite easily so she got on very well with Akamaru who was quite happy to make friends with the strange smelling girl who like his owner was able to understand him when he barked.

Shino Aburame was sitting impassively like he usually did and barely spoke. Naru was one of the few with whom he spoke with at least semi regularly so when Shino saw Naru come in he took the time to slowly nod at her in acknowledgement to which Naru replied with a short wave. Naru was also one of the few, that due to her enhanced vision she was able to determine different emotions and expressions from the seemingly emotionless boy. The fact that he was literally a walking hive of insects didn't bother her in the least so she was able to be one of the few to call herself one of Shino's friends on his very short list of friends.

Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka were like usual arguing who was going sit next to Sasuke who was ignoring them like he usually did. Naru's face twisted into an expression of annoyance and decided she wasn't going to put up with their behavior today and walked over to the arguing duo and plunked herself in the very spot they were arguing over. This grabbed their attention.

"Naru! Move! We were going to sit next to Sasuke-kun" squealed the two girls which caused Naru to eye them in annoyance.

"Give it a rest you two" Naru said in annoyance "This is the final day of school and you are ruining it for us by arguing over who is going to sit next to your precious Sasuke-kun, I mean come on! Act like Kunoichi for once and not obsessed fan girls and focus on the exam"

Ino's and Sakura's blushed in embarrassment and indignation before looking at each other and sighing in resignation and silently went to other seats, conceding victory to the other girl, just this once. Besides they don't have to worry about Naru taking their precious Sasuke-kun, she was one of the few who wasn't interested in him.

Naru suddenly heard talking from outside and looked up just in time to see Iruka-sensei and Mizuki enter through the door. Naru gave Iruka a wave and a grin, who looked up to Naru waving and gave a small wave back before starting the role call. Naru and Iruka got on quite well, almost like a sister brother relationship, Iruka had in fact just treated Naru to Ramen last night. When she was younger Naru had in fact used to have a crush on the young man. Because unlike most of the other teachers in the academy he had been so kind to her and helped her so much to catch up in her studies from years of being held back by other teachers, that she just couldn't help herself. The fact that he was actually quite handsome didn't help matters. But eventually she got over her crush and eventually became good friends with Iruka which of course later down the line, became more of a protective older brother, younger sister relationship, which Naru was quite happy to keep that way. It was one of her few bonds that bound her to her precious people. Of course while in public she called him Iruka-sensei but in private she called him Iruka-niisan

Iruka finally stopped taking the roll call and began speaking "Ok class, it is time for the graduation exams, myself and Mizuki-sensei will be waiting through that door to grade your performance, and the jutsu we will be examining is…" Iruka took a look at the file and couldn't help but wince and take a furtive look at Naru who was eagerly sitting forward on her seat nearly falling off, waiting to hear their topic.

"Bunshin No Jutsu!"

Naru's face twisted in shock and horror and she was mentally screaming in her head "_What!!! Bunshin No Jutsu!! That's my worst skill!" _Causing Kyubi to wake up from her little fox nap and speak out incoherently "**Huh… What? What's going on?"**

Iruka and Mizuki turned to go to the next classroom but Iruka couldn't help but turn back to look at Naru who at the moment was banging her head on the desk hard enough to knock an ordinary person out for a couple hours. Iruka just sighed and entered the classroom for the exam, he had a bad feeling about this.

At the same time Kyubi was waking up enough to finally notice what Naru was doing and barked out sharply "**Naru Kazama stop that at once before you hurt yourself!"**

Which made Naru jerk up and sit still, and if her tail had been exposed all the fur would have standing up straight.

Kyubi nodded once and spoke again "**Now tell me, just what happened?"**

Naru began to slowly tell Kyubi what had happened, the talking was almost therapeutic and Naru was able to calm down enough so that Kyubi was able to get the gist of it.

"**The word crap sums this up nicely"** Kyubi drawled sarcastically and Naru was barely able to stifle a giggle.

"**Well this is just about what I expected to happen" **and all Naru could do was shake her head in agreement.

"_This is the third year in a row that this has happened, I mean, it is well known that Bunshin No Jutsu is my worst skill, so what better way to prevent me graduating and becoming more powerful? Make the Bunshin No Jutsu the test"_

Kyubi nodded "**Indeed, I can smell the council all over this, especially Danzo"**

Naru just sighed "_What are we going to do Kyu-chan, this is my last chance to graduate, one more fail and I'm booted out of the program"_

Kyubi could only sigh "**I don't know Kit, but all we can do at the moment is to just try our best, you never know we might get lucky this time, if not, well...we will just have to work something out"**

Naru just sagged in her seat and simply nodded, not willing to talk at the moment and Kyubi detecting her present mood sank back into the depths of her mind to wait for Naru to be called.

Naru was sitting quietly when she suddenly heard her name called from the other classroom and she took a deep breath to calm herself down, stood up straight, head held up proudly and walked through the doorway.

When she entered she saw that Iruka and Mizuki were sitting behind a desk on which the coveted Konoha head bands were proudly gleaming. Naru swallowed nervously but proceeded to walk over and stand in front of the two examiners.

Iruka looked up from his writing pad and slowly looked Naru over, looking for signs of nervousness, which if she had any it was well hidden. Iruka gave a small smile hoping to bolster Naru's confidence, but all he got was a weak grin in response causing Iruka to silently sigh before assuming a more professional stance.

"Naru Uzumaki, show me the Bunshin No Jutsu" he commanded, before mouthing 'good luck' knowing that Naru would see it.

Naru just nodded before assuming a stance designed to help focus chakra with her hands in the rat seal. Chakra began welling up in her body, filling her body with untamed and barely controllable power, Naru's expression became more intense as she tried to get just enough chakra to do the jutsu with out blowing it. Kyubi was also watching carefully, and periodically telling Naru to lessen her chakra.

"**Less chakra Kit….. a little bit less chakra…. Focus!" **Kyubi intoned while also trying to suppress her own chakra from interfering.

Naru continued concentrating to where she felt it would work and with a silent prayer in her heart intoned "Bunshin No Jutsu!" while doing the appropriate seals causing a puff of smoke to appear with a pop.

Naru hesitantly looked over to see what happened with an abated breath and Kyubi was also holding her breath in anticipation, but when they saw the result they both released it with a breath of disappointment.

She had managed to create three bunshin but they look absolutely terrible and useless. Two were mangled looking corpses, and one was a violent shade of green and it frantically ran to the toilet that was just outside where a horrible sounding retching could soon be heard. Three pops were soon heard when the technique finally dispelled.

Naru looked up to see Iruka's reaction and it didn't look good. Iruka had an unhappy looking expression with a twitch of irritation above his eye and Mizuki was looking very amused at Naru in a not so pleasant way.

"You Fail" Iruka dully intoned, hurt and sadness apparent in his voice and Naru couldn't help but wince and hold back some tears that threatened to fall.

Mizuki suddenly looked up "Well, she is a highly gifted athlete and her taijutsu is very good and she did technically do the Bunshin No Jutsu so maybe we could let her pass? She did try so hard you know?"

Both Naru and Kyubi had to narrow their eyes at that, what was he up too? Mizuki had never shown any inclination of helping her before so why now? Not to mention that both Naru and Kyubi didn't think that Mizuki had that type of personality. Though Naru secretly allowed herself to feel some hope

Iruka sadly shook his head in a negative "I wish I could but those bunshin were useless and so I can't let her pass"

Naru just couldn't help herself, tears appeared in her eyes and she turned and fled out the open window into the yard ignoring both Iruka's and Kyubi's cries to come back and in another place altogether, an old man who had been watching through a certain crystal ball sighed in regret and softly murmured "Naru"

Had any of them been paying attention they would have noticed that Mizuki's expression changed from one of amusement, to one of cruel and malicious satisfaction.

* * *

Later Naru could be seen slowly swinging on a tree swing that she used often, whenever she was feeling especially depressed. She was watching all the other kids be with their parents who had come to congratulate them on graduating, she watched them be all happy and gleefully accept praise from their proud parents, she watched as a couple of the villagers looked at her and whispered to themselves unknowing that she could hear them perfectly.

"Hey! That kid…" one woman spoke.

"Yeah… She's 'that' kid… I heard that she was the only one to not graduate" another spoke

"Well that's fine… we can't have her becoming a Kunoichi, because she's the…" the other spoke

"Oi! We can't speak of that!" the other interrupted.

Naru sagged a little bit more, feeling her loneliness all the more acutely, when she saw Hinata slowly walking over twiddling with her fingers shyly as she did when she was nervous "Ano… Naru?"

Naru looked up at Hinata "Hey Hinata" she said in a weak attempt of cheerfulness. Kyubi sighed anxiously and just watched quietly hoping that Hinata could break Naru out of her slump, she had a habit of doing that.

Hinata stopped a few feet away and looked down before asking "Naru… Ano… Are you okay?"

Naru took on a pensive expression and leaned forward "Am I ok? I'm not sure Hinata"

Naru's answer caused Hinata to start becoming upset which Naru noticed and quickly began trying cheer her up all the while waving her hands wildly "It doesn't mean that I not going to be okay, I'll be fine, I wont give up right!, you remember don't you? I never give up! So cheer up Hinata, I'll be fine!"

Naru's antics caused Hinata to start giggling shyly and Naru stopped waving and spoke more calmly "Don't worry Hinata, I'll be alright, I'll think of something, I always do"

Hinata nodded but perked up when she heard her father calling and turned to Naru and clasped Naru's hand in both hands "Promise me Naru? That you will be okay?" Naru nodded an affirmative with a thumb's up in the 'good guy pose' causing Hinata to giggle again before running to her father with a wave of goodbye and Naru waved back.

Naru continued waving until Hinata turned around the corner before stopping and looked down at the hand Hinata clasped. Naru stayed like that for almost a minute before her demeanor started changing. Naru's expression firmed up in determination, and she clenched her hand into a fist, reaffirming her promise to never give up, and she murmured to herself "Thank you…. Hinata-chan"

Kyubi sighed in relief and also murmured to herself "**Good girl Hinata"**

Naru was suddenly startled when she heard a thump beside her and she turned to see who it was only to see the last person she wanted to. Mizuki, Naru looked in askance at the other ninja who correctly interpreted her question and said "Hey Naru, can I talk with you a little bit?"

Naru silently asked why on the inside but on the outside she just nodded and got up to follow the ninja to someplace quiet.

Kyubi watched silently, trusting Naru to make the right choices but she continued observing Mizuki trying to find a reason for what he was doing when she heard Naru speaking to her.

"_Hey Kyu-chan?" _Naru spoke and Kyubi turned her attention to her somewhat daughter.

"**Yes Kit?" Kyubi replied.**

Naru frowned while watching Mizuki's back "_What do you think is going on?"_

Kyubi frowned "**I don't know Kit, go along with it for now, but be careful, and be ready to run away if necessary, you can't take him on"**

"_I can if I really needed to, if I release the henge_..." Naru shot back.

Kyubi growled "**That is last option only Kit and you know that, so just be careful okay?**"

Naru just nodded knowing that Kyubi would understand and continued following Mizuki.

* * *

They finally stopped at a balcony where Mizuki motioned to sit down and Naru complied. Mizuki looked pensive for a moment before speaking.

"He wasn't picking on you, you know" he began and Naru just nodded not trusting herself to speak.

"I think he just wants you to be genuinely strong, Naru-chan" Mizuki spoke before being interrupted by Naru.

"NARU! Just Naru please Mizuki-sensei" Naru bit out and Mizuki just shrugged.

Mizuki continued speaking "I know that you wanted to graduate but Iruka was just doing his job as a responsible teacher, not to mention he was looking out for you"

"Yeah I know, but I couldn't help it, I really wanted to graduate and it had to be that bloody bunshin technique!" Mizuki chuckled and the two sat there in a tense silence.

Mizuki suddenly sighed catching Naru's attention "I guess I have no choice then but to let you in on an little secret"

Naru narrowed her eyes '_Secret?' _and Kyubi also murmured "**Secret?"**

* * *

Naru could later be seen watching Mizuki jumping off after having escorted her home. 

Naru was about to jump off herself when she felt a familiar presence appear in the alley behind her causing her to smile, Naru leant against the wall casually and muttered "haven't seen you round recently, eh, Tessai-ojisan?"

In the alley a man appeared in the corner of her eye. He was quite plain looking actually, long brown hair tied off in a ponytail, wearing plain clothes that didn't make him stand out, wearing plain wire rimed glasses, he looked just like everybody else and everybody ignored him. Everybody, completely and totally, you could almost assume it was a genjutsu, a very subtle genjutsu. Tessai didn't look like much but underneath was a different story altogether. Tessai had in fact been the Yondaime's personal Anbu, used from deep cover spying, to sannin level battles. Tessai was a spy who could find anything, anywhere, with none the wiser, and he was on par with the Sannins in one on one battle.

Of course one else knew of this, except for Naru and Kyubi that is. He said that he had once served her father, and that now he was serving her. She didn't completely understand why such a powerful man would serve her, such as a personal servant would, when she asked once he had only replied that he was repaying a debt that could never be repaid and seeing as her father the Yondaime was dead, he served her instead. He said he had never once regretted his choice to loyally serve the Kazama family as he quite enjoyed doing it, being the Kazama families personal servant that is.

Back in the alley Tessai smiled at Naru's pet name and replied "Hai, Naru-sama"

Naru grimaced but ignored it knowing that she could never get him to stop calling her Naru-sama.

Tessai just smiled knowing all too well how much she hated it.

Naru leaned her head against the cool wall "I presume you heard everything?" and Tessai frowned but replied "I did"

"Is it true?" Naru just had to ask.

"No it isn't, there is no such test" Tessai replied turning into a professional attitude.

Naru frowned "What do you think?"

Tessai didn't bother mincing words "I think he is trying to steal the Scroll of Seals for himself and frame you for stealing it and possibly to kill you and be proclaimed a hero of sorts"

Naru just smirked sadly "Well that's nothing unusual, what do you know about Mizuki?"

Tessai frowned unhappily "Not much I'm afraid, I found the usual folders you would find with any ninja but I did find a report stating that he is under suspicion for murder, though now that I think of it, there was a report last night stating that an imprisoned rouge Oufan went missing, I think that Mizuki might have taken it"

Naru frowned "Mmmm, maybe? and the Scroll of Seals?"

"It is a scroll of forbidden jutsu that the Shodaime wrote and sealed himself saying that they are too dangerous for ordinary ninja" Tessai replied and Naru frowned.

"A scroll of forbidden jutsu that the Shodaime wrote, I can see why Mizuki would want it" Naru pondered quietly, any techniques that the Shodaime deemed too dangerous must be powerful indeed.

Naru thought for a little bit but frowned and motioned to Tessai who came closer to hear better.

"I need to speak to Kyubi, so while I'm doing so I need you to watch out for me okay?"

Tessai nodded and followed Naru into her house who then lay on her bed before closing her eyes.

When next she opened them she was standing in what seemed to be a very expensive mansion, it had once been a dank sewer with an enormous gate that said seal where the Kyubi was once located but Kyubi had taught Naru how to make a home for her tenant in her mind, so she living quite comfortably now. Naru ignored the mansion and followed her senses to the room where Kyubi was at.

When Naru opened the door she was welcomed with the sight of a comfortable looking lounge room and she saw that Kyubi in human form was sitting in an arm chair staring pensively at the fire in the fireplace. Kyubi's human form was actually very beautiful.

She was about 5 feet 9 tall with a body that looked like a movie star's, silky skin, a scandalously sexy and very feminine body, and luxuriously long, healthy fire red hair. She was dressed in a Japanese style kimono that was red with various flowers on it and bound with a sky blue obi which only served to accent her sex appeal and natural beauty. She like Naru had fox ears, elongated canine teeth and nine red fox tails that flowed and lay around her. Kyubi's eyes were also elongated and they blood red.

Kyubi turned to look at Naru with warm welcoming eyes and gave a warm smile to which Naru couldn't help smiling back. Kyubi gestured at an arm chair beside her which Naru couldn't help accept.

They sat together for a few minutes savoring the peace and quiet they hadn't been able to get all day but eventually Naru decided to bring up why she had come.

"I'm just so confused, what should I do? Mizuki wants the Shodaime's for himself, and probably get me killed as well, If I was some naïve, ignorant baka I might have gone for it in hopes that he was right and that I might graduate, but I am not some ignorant baka thanks to you teaching me so I just don't know what to do" Naru spoke with a dejected voice and Kyubi frowned.

"**Now don't give me that Naru, weren't you saying that you were not going to give up no matter what only an hour or so ago?" **Kyubi spoke in pleasant voice that Naru liked to think that her real mother had possessed.

"Yeah I guess" Naru agreed in a growing voice of confidence.

Kyubi just smiled "**Well whatever you decide you know that I will follow you where ever you go, okay**" and Naru smiled brightly.

Naru thought about the situation a little to herself before looking up at Kyubi with resolution in her face and Kyubi grinned "**Well? we going Kit?**"

Naru nodded "I thought about it and it came down to just two things, 'What I could do' and 'What I should do' I may not be ninja by name, but at heart I am a ninja of Konoha, and it is my duty to stop Mizuki's treasonous actions and… and…I cant let him get my fathers scroll!"

Kyubi nodded before asking "**What about the missing Oufan?**" and Naru hesitated before grinning mischievously.

"Well then we will just have to read the Shodaime's scroll to see if there is anything useful" Naru said with a wide grin and Kyubi just shook her head.

"**Honestly I would mistake you for a Kitsune if it weren't for the fact I know you are only a half Kitsune"** she said wryly and Naru giggled before closing her eyes once more.

Once again she found herself on her bed feeling quite refreshed, a peculiar side affect of seeing Kyubi in person.

"**It must just be my irresistible charisma and boundless energy that does that"** Kyubi joked and Naru giggled slightly before turning and seeing that Tessai was sitting at her table eating a bowl of ramen.

Naru looked at the clock and noted that it was about five in the evening, she had been 'sleeping' for about two hours. Naru felt something and looked downwards and noted that she was under her bed covers, her shoes and knee high socks had been taken off her legs, as well as the jacket around her waist and her gloves and wrist guards.

Tessai heard motion behind him and turned around to see Naru looking at her current state of dress. Tessai stood up and bowed and Naru looked at him in askance to which Tessai replied "Naru-sama I apologize for any inconvenience but you didn't look too comfortable so I took the liberty of 'putting you to bed' so to speak" and bowed lower saying "I apologize"

Naru looked at him a little reproachfully before sighing and saying "Thank you Tessai-san, I should have done it in the first place so please stop bowing to me, okay"

Tessai stood up and bowed his head "Thank you Naru-sama" and Naru waved him away saying "Yeah yeah, whatever, just stop calling me Naru-sama!"

Tessai bowed and said "Hai, Naru-sama" and Naru just slapped her head in exasperation.

Tessai suddenly turned serious "I presume you talked to Kyubi-sama, so what have you decided to do" he asked ready to aid her in whichever way he could.

Naru's expression turned into one of determination "I'm going to stop Mizuki, I can't let him continue these treasonous acts or let him even touch fathers scroll" Naru's face suddenly turned grim "however, the only way to get Mizuki to reveal himself and get evidence of his betrayal is to walk into the trap that he has laid"

Tessai balked and spoke "But it is dangerous and there is that oufan to consider"

Naru nodded "Yes it is dangerous but I have to do this, if I am to ever grow in strength as a ninja" Naru suddenly grinned "Besides Mizuki isn't expecting me to know about him, and there is also a scroll of techniques to consider, I might get so curious about what is in it, that I might open it and find a technique that could help, if he does have the missing oufan all I have to do is prevent him from releasing it from the crystal he is carrying it in"

Tessai thought about it, its certainly possible, whenever a ninja is taking his or her oufan partner on a mission, the oufans themselves are carried in a special crystal that maintains them in a deep sleep like state and ready for battle at anytime. Kind of like a poke-ball on that cartoon show Pokemon. So when ever they are needed to combat ninja or wild oufan which were quite common in the wilds around the world, they can just be brought out in a moments notice.

Naru got redressed and got ready to set out. Kunai, shruiken, a few smoke bombs, flash grenades and exploding tags and she was ready.

Naru turned to Tessai "I'm going now, please don't alert the Hokage at least until he has sent out other ninja to find the scroll and me, we can't have Mizuki thinking that there is something wrong, the only one who could find me however would be Iruka-niisan so I can count on him for back up"

Tessai nodded and said "Good luck Naru-sama" Naru nodded and jumped out the window towards the Hokage Tower.

* * *

Naru looked around the large clearing in the forest that Mizuki had suggested, there was a little cottage beside it that looked like nobody had occupied it in years and Naru couldn't help whistling, this was a good location for a personal training area. Large clearing, small cottage where one could eat lunch, rest a little bit, or study technique scrolls. If she survived this Naru didn't think that anybody would mind her using it to train in. 

Naru checked the time and saw she had time yet before Mizuki said he would show up, so she sat down against the cottage wall and opened the scroll and moaned at the title of the first technique.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!! Why did it have to start with my worst subject!!" Naru was about to go to the next one when Kyubi stopped her.

"**Hold on Kit, I know of this technique, and I believe that it will suit you perfectly, so please read on further"** Kyubi said eagerly wanting to know more and Naru obliged reading further into scroll about the technique and before long even Naru's face was beaming.

"This really is perfect for me! It is so much more simple for me to use and very much more effective and useful, not to mention that I will probably be the only one to use it to it's full potential!" Naru spoke excitedly.

"**Indeed kit, from what I understand of this technique, instead of having to supply an appropriate amount of chakra, which with you is very difficult, all you would be doing is splitting your chakra evenly among the clones which would be much easier than trying to control your chakra enough to do the bunshin, this really is a perfect technique for you, most people under jounin would collapse just trying to make and maintain two kage bunshin, but I think you could literally make hundreds even without my help!"**

Naru couldn't help herself and nearly cheered out in excitement before managing to stop herself in favor of learning to do the kage bunshin no jutsu.

* * *

Iruka was laying on his bed contemplating his life and how similar Naru's life was to his own, he was also contemplating his current relationship with the young girl, he had just gotten back from a talk with the hokage who talked about how Naru had grown up without her parents much like he had.

He, like everybody else had once been very resentful of the Kyubi container, and he had vowed to never forgive her, when he had gotten word that he was to be the containers teacher during her third round at the academy, he promised himself that he would act like a professional and teach her the bare minimum and not help her at all, this way he could keep his reputation as a fair teacher and not help the container grow strong.

His resolution to do just that died when he first laid eyes on her. She was quite the pretty little thing, but she looked pretty ragged and banged up, her clothes were dirty as if she had been running, her body was covered in old bruises and she had no spark in her eyes, and she looked pretty lonely and sad, as she sat quietly, watching the other children. But what most surprised him was that he could not see any sign of the monster that the villagers had described, she was not feral looking and there was no hate or resentment in her eyes, just a look of deep desire and longing for companionship and comfort.

Later in the year he had done some investigating and what he found horrified him, how could anyone do this to a child? Container regardless! Multiple cases of severe abuse, a police record that to him seemed to be impossible to attribute to the young girl, there were even a few reports of attempted rapes which were fortunately foiled by ANBU guards, she was quite well behaved and didn't seem the type to steal in whatever circumstance. He also found that her years in the academy were not kind to her at all. She had started at least three years before her age group signifying that she had great potential and at first she seemed to be doing quite well, achieving a great deal in class, but then her grades started to slip and she became the dead last in the academy. He found that it was because the teachers were asking her to do things that they wouldn't ask of any other child, like asking her to answer questions that chuunins have difficulty answering, a child her age couldn't possibly have answered them, giving her exams that were beyond her capabilities and thus she became known as dead last.

Iruka had sworn then to help her as much as possible. He started assisting her with her work and she had progressed tremendously in a very short period, showing that she was anything but stupid or a dead last. Naru didn't know this, but he had been very aware of her crush on him, and he had found it very cute and endearing if not a little embarrassing, he had even indulged her crush a couple times, taking her out to Ichiraku's to eat a bowl of ramen together which he could tell she had enjoyed a lot. He had been thankful really when she grew out of her crush and it had developed into their current relationship of brother and sister.

Iruka smiled, she had come long way from that shy young girl that she had once been.

Iruka was suddenly interrupted by a knock his door which he got up to answer and found Mizuki standing impatiently on his door step.

"What is it Mizuki?" Iruka said looking at Mizuki in concern.

"We've got trouble Iruka, we've been summoned by the hokage, Naru has stolen the Scroll of Seals" Mizuki said quickly.

"What!!!" Iruka exclaimed looking dumbfounded at the other ninja.

"I don't know the details myself, all I know is that we have to report to the hokage and that it has something to do with Naru and the Scroll of seals" Mizuki explained quickly.

Iruka was shocked. Naru? Steal the Scroll of Seals? Why would she do that? Naru isn't the type to do something so very foolish like this, something wasn't right! Iruka ran back inside and soon came back out in full ninja gear, he nodded at Mizuki and they jumped off towards the hokage tower, Iruka clenched his fist, "_I'm coming Naru! You aren't the type to this! I know your not!"_

* * *

Sarutobi the Sandaime Hokage was not having a good night at all. He had been sitting in his office trying to shrink the pile of paperwork (_Papers from the ninth level of hell)_ on his desk when had heard a muffled bang in his library in the next room, and he had went to investigate the disturbance only to discover a startled looking Naru holding the Scroll Seals in her arms which caused her to panic and make series of seals in a rush and shout "Sexy no jutsu!" and she had puffed into smoke which slowly disappeared to reveal a vision of a scandalously beautiful and downright sexy twenty year blonde woman. The thing was she was wearing nothing but her birthday suit with just enough smoke to conceal certain areas of her anatomy. It was just too much for the Sandaime to handle and his nose had exploded in a fountain of blood, resulting in him fainting from blood loss. 

Sarutobi was still turning bright red from just memory of the jutsu and his nose threatened to explode again but he forced it down and kneaded his brow in embarrassment. "_What a terrifying jutsu, it should be written down in the forbidden scroll as a kinjutsu, if only to prevent all the male ninja from keeling over from forced blood loss"._

Sarutobi looked over the assembled ninja who had come in response to the summons and he sighed restlessly '_This is not a good night'_ he sighed.

"Hokage-sama, that girl has gone to far this time! She can't get away with this!" One ninja yelled out.

"That Scroll is dangerous! And it was forbidden by the Shodaime! If used in certain ways…." Another spoke out.

"It cannot leave this village Sandaime-sama! We must find the girl as soon as possible!" said another ninja and Sarutobi nodded in agreement.

"Find Naru as soon as possible along with the scroll and bring them to me but do not harm her! Understood!" Sarutobi ordered "Now go!" he ordered again and the gathering of ninja all vanished in search of the wayward Jinchuriki.

Sarutobi turned back to his office in hopes of using his crystal ball to find her, or at least keep an eye on her, she wasn't the type to do things like this after all, unless she has special reason to do so. Sarutobi didn't know how right he was.

* * *

A few minutes later Naru could be seen standing leaning on her knees with the scroll on her back, totally exhausted but extremely satisfied. 

Naru decided to forgo standing and fell onto her ass in a sitting position still panting ten to the dozen. _"Well Kyu-chan I did it!"_ she said to Kyubi who had been watching and encouraging Naru to keep going.

"**Yes you did Kit. You mastered the Kage Bunshin, you're becoming stronger every day, it took you less time than I thought it would take for you to master it, I am very proud Naru, very proud indeed"** Naru beamed and she could feel Kyubi giving her a mental version of a hug.

Naru suddenly heard a faint snap behind her and she jumped up and whirled around with a Kunai in hand only to find a pissed off looking Iruka standing behind her.

"NNNAAAARRRUUU….. Just what on earth is going on?" Iruka asked in a barely restrained voice signifying that he was very angry with her but willing to listen.

Naru shivered from the barely suppressed anger in his voice but then noticed he was about to say more so Naru quickly raced up and put her hand over his mouth to silence him.

"I know your angry Ni-san, but let me explain!" Naru yammered out quickly in hopes of sparing herself a long and tedious lecture, not to mention that Mizuki was going to be here soon.

Iruka shoved her hand away and said "You have thirty seconds to explain your actions and it had better be good or so help me…" Naru understood what he wasn't saying all to well and she rushed to explain, Mizuki probably wasn't far away and she would need Iruka's help to capture him.

Naru quickly explained how she had been feeling after her failure to pass for the third time, she explained how Hinata had pulled her out of her funk and help her regain her determination to succeed. She then explained how Mizuki had come up to her with an offer to tell her about another way to pass the genin exam. About how he had told her about the scroll and that in order to pass she had to steal the scroll from under the hokage's nose and give it to Mizuki in this clearing.

Naru had then explained about her suspicions of the obviously treacherous Shinobi and she then told him the reasons that she had decided to got through with it.

Iruka couldn't believe his ears. It was all Mizuki's fault! But would he do it? He is a Shinobi of Konoha! Isn't he?

Both ninja suddenly heard a sound of kunai and shruiken being thrown but only Iruka was quick enough to react. Naru suddenly found herself flying backwards after having been pushed away by Iruka who then took the full assault head on, a few of the shruiken an kunai lodged themselves in various places on his body but none were life threatening but the rest of them pinned him to the wall of the cottage unable to move at all.

Naru got up slowly looking at Iruka in horror but quickly assessed his condition and heaved a sigh of relief when saw that he would be alright. Naru then quickly turned around and located where the attack had come from. Naru's eyes narrowed when she spotted Mizuki crouched in the tree above them casually twirling a large Windmill Shruiken on his hand.

"Good work Naru… Now… Give me the Scroll and you will have passed this test" Mizuki ordered with a demented grin on his face. Naru's face twisted in a peculiar expression of distaste and defiance.

Iruka spoke out then pain clearly showing in his voice "Don't give him the scroll Naru, he is a traitor to Konoha! He only wants it for himself!"

Naru nodded in agreement and shouted out "I am a Kunoichi of Konoha! and I will not give this scroll to a traitor like you Mizuki-teme!"

Mizuki's face twisted in an expression of anger and he looked like he was about to blow when he suddenly gained a glint in his eye and he gained a crazed smirk on his face.

He bent down to look at Naru "Haven't you ever wondered Naru? About why the village hates you?"

Naru quirked an eyebrow, she could see where this was going and she replied "Yeah, so what about it?" barely keeping amusement from showing in her voice.

Mizuki's grin widened in anticipation, knowing that what he was about to reveal would hurt the girl, and he so loved causing her pain.

Iruka also knew where this was going but unlike Mizuki didn't want Naru to get hurt and shouted out "Mizuki! Don't do it! It is forbidden!"

Naru looked at Iruka quickly but turned back to Mizuki unwilling to let him out of her sight.

Mizuki just ignored Iruka's plea and continued on "There was a law created 12 years ago, a law that nobody was to tell you."

Naru was barely able to hold in her mirth and contempt but managed to choke out in what seemed to be a pained voice "What law, what was this law about?"

Iruka yelled out again "Stop Mizuki, she has already been hurt far too much! Please don't do this!"

Naru looked at Iruka again, this time in shock, and she was unable to prevent a smile of gratitude and joy from showing on her face or prevent a few tears flowing down her face "_He does care!"_ Naru cheered to herself and her heart suddenly became much lighter, the pain of loneliness that had haunted her for her whole life had finally started to lift from Iruka's words alone and Kyubi just smiled. It had been a long time since Naru had lowered her mask and shown such a beautiful smile.

Iruka noticed Naru looking at him and turned to look at her and when he saw the young girl he considered his younger sister looking at him with the most beautiful smile of gratitude and joy that he had ever seen he couldn't help blushing bright red and smile tentatively back at her to which Naru responded with an even bigger smile which made Iruka blush even more and look away.

Naru grinned at Iruka's bashful expression and turned to look back at Mizuki with a confident smirk and hefted a kunai in her hand, determination flaring in her heart until Kyubi became sure that it would catch alight.

Mizuki just looked at them in distaste, hate and revulsion apparent on his face. How is it that Iruka could care so much about the girl? She is that bloody demon Kyubi in human form after all!!! He glared at Naru such hate and anger that Naru felt a weak killing intent or Ki aimed at her which she just shrugged off just as easily as moving some stray hairs from her face and merely put her kunai in a ready position. Killing intent is a valuable weapon in any ninja's arsenal as it could cause the enemy to freeze up allowing said ninja to kill his opponent. Being the Kyubi's container Naru had been exposed to various levels of killing intent through out her life and therefore was immune to killing intent, practicing shrugging it off with the strongest demon in history sure helped as well.

Naru looked up at Mizuki with a cocky smirk and said in a bored voice "You call that Ki? I've had far, far worse than that, BBBaaaakkkkkaaaaa" she drawled, voice dripping with derision before asking in a more serious voice "This law you were speaking of? What is it?"

Mizuki's eye twitched at Naru's disrespectful tone and the fact that his Ki attack was totally ineffective but ignored it in favour of telling Naru a bit more.

"Well as you know this law was instated twelve years ago by the Sandaime and that nobody was to tell you this law or anybody of your generation really"

Naru just raised an eyebrow and spoke "And what is it Mizuki-teme"

Mizuki grinned insanely "This law is…. That nobody is to speak about the fact that you…." and Mizuki pointed at Naru "Are the demon fox!! You are the Kyubi no Kitsune that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village, you have been lied to your entire life! How does that make you feel… Demon?"

**Another Chapter finally done. I'm sorry if it seems that i am stretching it out but that's just the way I write. I'm hoping to make a really long fic! I will be introducing Kagutsuchi in the next chapter so until then, sayanara!**


	3. Fight, Flight and Awakening

**Sorry if I took so long to update, but Uni comes first you know.**

**I don't have any any ownership of Naruto or My HiME,sigh...  
**

**Now on with the story**

** "**_Naru Thinking and talking to Kyubi"_

**"Kyubi speaking"**

** _"Kagutsuchi speaking_**

'Fight, Flight and Awakening'

There were many things that Iruka and Mizuki were expecting. Shouts of denial, anger, confusion or maybe for her to just collapse and start crying but they were completely surprised when instead of doing any of those things Naru started chuckling.

"Heh…. Heh heh heh heh" and soon she was out right laughing.

Iruka just stared at Naru as if she was some sort of mad psychopathic serial killer and asked himself just what the hell was going on, Mizuki was just plain confused, this isn't what was supposed to happen!

Naru finally managed to stop laughing and after wiping away a few tears of mirth looked up at Mizuki with a smirk and said "So tell me something new, Baka!"

Iruka and Mizuki looked on in shock so Naru continued to speak "I've known about the Kyubi being sealed inside me since I was three years old, so this is old news for me, and I have even been able to talk with her just as I am talking to you or anybody else"

"You've talked to the Kyubi?" Iruka spluttered before the other part of Naru's speech reached his mind "Wait a minute! The Kyubi is female!"

Naru looked around with a smile "Yep! And not only that, Kyu-chan is actually nothing like the stories have made her out to be, she is not a blood thirsty demon, she is actually quite noble and kind, for a demon at least, she is no different than you and me"

Iruka just stared at Naru dumb founded, the Kyubi is a girl? She is noble and kind? She's like us? Iruka suddenly felt an intense need for a drink or two or even more then two.

Naru looked up at Mizuki who's expression was even more psychotically twisted and fearful than before, seemed as if Mizuki was slowly going insane. Naru's eyes narrowed in worry, if Mizuki was slowly going insane with fear then there was no telling what he might do.

"Your right about one thing though" Naru placed her hands into a tora seal and looked up at Mizuki in determination "I'm not human!"

Iruka's head popped up at that _"Not human? What does she mean?"_

Naru started gathering chakra "But I am not demon either" Naru made a series of seals and with a deep breath to calm herself down, yelled "Kitsune henge no jutsu… KAI!"

Naru's body was suddenly shrouded in a cloud of dense smoke and Iruka squinted through the smoke wanting to see what had happened, as the smoke disappeared Iruka's eyes widened when he beheld Naru's true form.

Naru no longer looked like the young girl he had come to know. She now sported what looked like red fox ears on top of her head, along with a single red tail with a white tip. Her eyes were still blue but looked like a foxes, her nails were longer and sharper looking and her canine teeth were now elongated, her figure was fuller as well and looked far stronger, lithe and trim like that of a world class athlete and she had also gained a few inches.

Naru smiled a small smile after seeing Iruka's totally gob smacked expression, then looked up at Mizuki and said softly "I'm a hanyou, half human, half demon, so while I do possess demonic powers, like highly enhanced speed and strength and of course youki, I also possess human qualities, like my heart, I have a great capacity for emotion and this is what makes me more potentially powerful than most other demons, so you can be sure Mizuki that I will stop you!"

Naru watched Mizuki's expression as it went through a whole range of emotions, confusion, fear, anger, hate and too her utmost disgust… lust.

Mizuki's hate of her won though and he shouted "You a heart? You are nothing but a demon! You have no heart! And you even dare think that you will stop me! You will be the one to die! And I know just the way to insure your death"

Mizuki smirked and began spinning the Fuuma Shruiken (Sorry if I got the name wrong before) and Naru just smirked and took a stance expecting him to chuck it at her. Mizuki grinned grotesquely when he noticed Naru's new stance and he began swiveling his arm to throw the by now very fast fuuma shruiken.

Suddenly to Naru's horror Mizuki suddenly shifted his aim and threw the shruiken at Iruka who was still pinned to the wall!

Iruka would later scold Naru for doing it but Naru just reacted on instinct and jumped in front of the shruiken in an effort to protect the closest person to a brother she had.

Kyubi was just about to tell move Naru to not be stupid and get out the of the way when she suddenly felt the mysterious power in a shrouded section of Naru's soul respond to the extreme emotions she was expressing and Kyubi's senses were suddenly overwhelmed with waves of pure, hot, fiery power.

Back outside, time had seemed to slow down to a stop for Naru. She could see the overly large shruiken slowly whirling towards her, screaming like a banshee to her highly acute fox ears, She could see Mizuki grinning and laughing crazily and triumph could be seen glowing manically in his eyes, she could also hear Iruka shouting at her to get out of the way, his cries steadily getting more desperate as the shruiken approached.

Naru could feel her emotions climaxing, fear, desperation, love, anger, disgust and contempt, and an overwhelming desire and determination to protect her precious person. She suddenly felt a strange yet powerful and wonderful energy flaring in her heart, and, reacting out of pure instinct, held out her hands, as if she was about to block the deadly weapon with her bare palms, she felt the strange power flaring to even greater heights and to her surprise, along with that of Iruka and Mizuki, a wreath of fire briefly flashed around her causing her to squint and coalesced into a glowing orange spherical barrier which enclosed her inside its protective walls.

The shruiken bounced off the barrier totally reflected and crashed into the ground a few feet away and all Iruka and Mizuki could do was gape at what had happened and at the fiery balls flying rings around the young hanyou.

'_What the hell was that!!"_ was both their thoughts.

Naru was silently wondering what had happened, she had felt the power flare against something protectively, she had felt the impact of some object and then heard the crash of the shruiken against the ground. She opened her eyes and stifled a gasp when she saw three flaming magatamas floating in circle in front of her. '_What is this, why is this so familiar? Why does it feel like I have gained something that has been missing?'_ she wondered when she noticed the sound of another fuuma shruiken spinning and looked up to find Mizuki still up in the tree and spinning his second shruiken until it seemed as though it was a buzz saw.

"I don't know what that was" he spat out in anger "But you can be sure it wont happen again you freak" and with that threw the shruiken as hard as he could, this time at Naru who was still standing in front of Iruka. Naru felt a flash of indignation at being called a freak and she again instinctively drew on the burning power flowing in her veins once more and again on instinct she raised her arms palms first. This time she left her eyes open, and while the wall of fire didn't flash this time, the see through, fire colored barrier rose to again enclose her safely within its depths and the fuuma shruiken was again safely deflected.

Mizuki's anger soared at seeing his shruiken deflected again. He has been planning this moment for years and he not about to let his plans be destroyed by some wretched waif of a Kunoichi! This is not what was supposed to happen! She was supposed to be either dead, or cowering before me like the whore bitch she is! She is not meant to be DEFYING ME!

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!" Mizuki screamed and Naru swore she could hear Mizuki's tentative hold on sanity and self control cracking like glass. Mizuki grabbed a kunai out of his holster and jumped into the air, diving at Naru kunai poised in front of him. Naru just smirked grimly, this is what she did best, and drew her own weapon and kunai clashed against kunai. Naru's knees just about buckled and she barely managed the strength to thrust Mizuki back and jump away, any other genin would have been defeated from that attack alone but due to the fact that Naru was a hanyou and her demonic heritage inherited from Kyubi she was strong enough to drive Mizuki back despite her inexperience.

Naru stood up from her crouch with a confident smirk and murmured "My turn!" and keeping on her cocky smirk started running at high speed which surprised Mizuki who swung at Naru's head, but missed when Naru ducked low to the ground and using her superior flexibility and balance somehow twisted in mid air parallel to the ground while still moving, braced herself against the ground with her hands and kicked at Mizuki's chest with a high powered, low slung, round house kick. Mizuki deflected the kick high leaving her body wide open to attack and thrust at her chest with his kunai but Naru continued going along with the momentum, twisted her torso and pushed with her arms allowing her to somehow flip over the thrust and spun around with another kick at Mizuki's head. Mizuki ducked and rose back up with a high powered punch which Naru blocked expertly with crossed arms and back flipped to land in a defensive stance facing Mizuki and smirked wider, Mizuki just growled in anger in response and both Naru and Mizuki ran at each other to engage in another bout of high level taijutsu.

Iruka watched both impressed and worried. Naru was using a level of taijutsu that was about mid to high chuunin, it seemed that Naru had kept more than just her true form secret if one went by the current events and Mizuki was having a high level of difficulty keeping up with the fast, strong, and highly flexible hanyou girl, Iruka frowned with worry. Fighting with taijutsu was all well and good, but there was more than taijutsu to the ninja arts, there was also ninjutsu and genjutsu to consider, and while Mizuki was never that good with genjutsu, he was on level with Iruka in ninjutsu, and Naru just didn't have that option, what with only knowing three basic jutsus.

Naru growled and launched a swift jab at Mizuki's upper shoulder aiming for a certain nerve cluster in an effort to paralyze his arm and get an advantage over the demented man only to have Mizuki catch her hand in his and while not letting go of her hand jabbed at her face which Naru caught with her other palm. Naru gritted her teeth and braced herself before pushing forward attempting to topple him over but it seemed Mizuki had the same idea and began pushing back and neither of them were able to overpower the other, it seemed it was a complete stalemate.

Mizuki gritted his teeth in frustration as he continued to push against his foe and he couldn't help but bite out "How is it you are so strong for your age, bitch!"

Naru felt a flash of irritation at the bitch comment but replied "That would be because hanyou's mature a lot faster than humans due to necessity for survival and so I am already the equivalent of a fifteen year human, and of course because of my demonic side my muscles are much stronger than humans"

This pushing against each other was getting repetitive and it seems they both agreed because they both let go and jumped away at the same time.

Naru landed in a crouch as did Mizuki and they both glared at each other, Mizuki stood up and spoke "I tire of this demon, you are an impressive taijutsu user and I acknowledge that but you and I both know that there is more to fighting than taijutsu" he said with a maniacal sneer of anticipation and Naru's face twitched in annoyance knowing he was right.

"_What can I do Kyu-chan? He's not called a chuunin for nothing and I don't know that many jutsu's"_

"**Calm down Kit, I doubt he knows any really powerful jutsu's and don't forget that you know Kage Bunshin, and I doubt that he would survive if you used it"**

"_I don't know, Kyu-chan I've only known it for a couple hours and I don't know if I can use it in a battle situation yet, though I suppose I can try"_ Naru mused deciding whether or not she should it but it was Mizuki who clinched it.

"Time for you to die demon, and then after you are dead I'll kill your precious Ni'san and take the scroll!" Mizuki shouted and pulled out a kunai.

Naru glared at Mizuki menacingly and turned to face him head on "If you dare touch Iruka Ni-san again…. I'll kill you" she spoke slowly enunciating each word with such intense Killing intent that Mizuki couldn't help feeling a sliver of uneasiness but got over it and laughed maliciously with blood thirsty sneer.

"You wont stop me demon" he taunted and Naru just scoffed at him and raised her hands into the ever familiar cross seal.

"Just you try it trash! I'll return it a thousand fold!" Naru proclaimed proudly and with such certainty that Mizuki felt another sliver of uneasiness, but he pushed it down again. What could this girl do to him, she isn't even a genin!

Mizuki shout defiantly "Just you try it demon! Show me what you got!"

Iruka suddenly felt a massive spike of chakra coming from Naru and he started wondering what was about to happen.

"KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!" Naru shouted and the clearing in front of the dilapidated cottage was suddenly flooded with clones. They were everywhere, standing in the clearing, hanging on trees, even lounging around on the cottage.

Both Iruka and Mizuki's eyes bulged. They both knew what this technique did! But where as Iruka's heart was flooded with pride, Mizuki's was flooded with fear, and he started whirling around madly looking for an escape until he became dizzy and fell on the ground.

Naru watched the fallen Shinobi with contempt as he was overwhelmed with terror and fell over his own feet "_Keh, what a coward, how he ever became a chuunin is beyond me" I might as well put him out of his misery"_

Mizuki was just about ready to give up and let himself be taken in, anything to get away from _her_ when he suddenly remembered something he had in his possession, something which would be able to save him despite the girls unexpected power. Naru suddenly noticed that Mizuki had stopped trembling, and he gained a maniacal glint in his eye again and he stood back up straight while reaching a hand into his chuunin jacket. Naru suddenly had a bad feeling and she was just about to order her clones to attack when Mizuki just jumped straight into the air startling Naru who looked up to see what he was doing, Naru eyes widened in horror when she saw Mizuki pulling out a dark purple crystal and smearing it with his blood.

Iruka's heart dropped when he also saw the blood smeared crystal in Mizuki's hand and he gasped "An oufan crystal, when did he get one?"

The crystal started glowing a violent red and Mizuki looked at Naru who despite the blood pumping in her ears and the low voice he spoke in heard what he said perfectly.

"I told you demon. You will die tonight!" Mizuki said and threw the glowing crystal at the ground amongst the mass of clones and the clearing was instantly filled with great clouds of smoke and multiple pops were heard and Naru felt that over half her clones had been dispersed, judging by how much unused chakra had returned to her and giving her a boost, she was also nearly overwhelmed by sudden images, memories she could say came from the clones denoting a large, shady, beast like shape that had appeared next to them and quickly destroyed them.

Naru nearly staggered but barely managed to hold herself still. She quickly recovered and ran over to wear Iruka was and started prying him off the wall knowing that he would only get in the way as he was now.

Iruka started when Naru appeared next to him and started prying him off the wall and couldn't help asking "What are you going to do Naru? Now that this oufan has appeared we no longer stand a chance!"

"Shut up Ni-san! We are not done yet, we can't give up now! There must be a way! But right now we must run, we are too vulnerable here!" Naru shouted startling Iruka who allowed Naru to loop an arm around her shoulders and they jumped off through the forest.

Mizuki had by now landed back on the ground and he ran and jumped on the back of his stolen oufan. He then noticed that both Naru and Iruka had disappeared, and he grinned wickedly.

"So they want a chase do they, I guess I can oblige them" before shouting at the oufan "Find them!" Oufan instantly jumped off quickly at great speed, which was surprising considering its size and it wasn't long before they were close behind the tree wayward duo, and quickly closing.

* * *

Naru looked behind her and saw the large oufan quickly catching up, despite the fact they were jumping through the close growing trees of Konaha forest. Naru started cursing like an old sailor. Naru then thought of something.

"Iruka get on my back! I can't go faster if I am dragging you along beside me!" Naru shouted shocking Iruka who yelled back "What! Won't that just slow us down! You couldn't be nearly strong enough!"

Naru grinned and said "I'm a hanyou of Kyu-chan's blood remember Iruka, I am many times faster, and stronger than a human even with out using chakra to enhance my movements, so carrying you won't be a problem"

Iruka still wasn't convinced "I don't know Naru I'm a lot heavier than I look"

Naru just growled in annoyance and pleaded "Trust me Iruka Ni-san I can do it" Iruka was about to protest again but Naru looked him in the eye and said softly "Trust me Ni-san"

Iruka was caught at the trust me and just nodded and when they were in mid jump he moved and latched onto Naru's back who with out missing a beat grabbed his legs securely and wrapped her tail around Iruka's waist to further secure him.

Now that Iruka was on her back Naru could really rip loose and Iruka nearly fell off when they quickly picked up speed. He was astonished by how much faster they were going and that was with him on her back. Though now that he thought about it, it wasn't very surprising she was so fast. For most of her life she has been running and hiding from the villagers, and there were rumors that she had evaded jounin level ninja multiple times, so she had to either be very fast, or good at hiding, or a combination of both.

Mizuki gritted his teeth when he saw that he was no longer getting closer and quickly ordered the oufan to go faster.

Naru looked back and saw that the oufan was still closing in though slower than before and she gritted her teeth and tried to run even faster.

Iruka looked back himself and his eyes widened at how much closer the oufan was but didn't say anything knowing that Naru no doubt aware of it.

Iruka's lips pursed in thought and wondered out loud "Just how is it that Mizuki has an oufan in the first place?" He was startled when Naru replied.

Naru said "Do you know about the missing oufan at the stables?" and Iruka shook his head in a negative and Naru continued speaking "A B rank oufan inexplicitly went missing from the stables a couple nights ago and nobody has clue what happened, I think that this is the missing oufan, I think Mizuki stole it so that he could have an oufan with him when he left Konoha with the scroll" Iruka nodded in agreement but silently wondered where Naru got her information, a missing oufan is serious business, not something a beginner Kunoichi should know about, yet another puzzle piece appeared in Iruka's mind concerning the enigma that is Naru and he did not a have a clue in how to even begin solving it.

Naru in the mean time was having a bout of deja'vu. This was just like her dream and Kyubi was having to send regular pulses of reassurance to Naru to keep her calm and centered, though she herself was also concerned, this was indeed very similer to the dream and Kyubi had a sinking feeling that they were going to discover the unknown ending to Naru's dream.

They continued running for about five more minutes and Naru was starting to pant heavily and was getting tired, she may be a hanyou, but she was still young, and running as fast as you can with a full grown man on your back can tire one out. Naru then suddenly recognized the section of forest they were in, she had been there many times, she had practically lived in it at some point as nobody ever came to this particular section of forest much less go beyond it like she has, the Border forest of Death Gorge Valley.

Naru then started feeling something out there start pulsing resonating with something in her, it was beckoning her, pulling her, telling her to come here. Normally Naru would have avoided such a pull, as something like that was to be avoided, but this was different somehow and Naru turned towards the pulse, noting that they were now on a direct course for Death Gorge, Naru grinned, the valley was her own personal sanctuary, as she had always gone there to heal and be safe at various points in her life, she knew it like the back of her hand.

Kyubi also felt that this was different "**Kit this pull that you are feeling, go with it, I think that it is related with that strange power you seemingly possess"** and Naru just nodded in agreement concentrating on her running knowing that Kyubi would feel it

"Ni-san we are approaching Death Gorge!" Naru shouted over her shoulder at Iruka who only nodded, being one of the few who knew exactly what the valley was for the poor beleaguered hanyou.

The pair suddenly burst out of the tree line with the oufan close behind them and saw the quickly approaching cliff edge and Naru just continued running and just as they were about to go over Naru shouted "HOLD ON NI-SAN!" and jumped at the edge with an excited yell from Naru tail fliying behind her and a panicked yell from Iruka and they soared down at a quick pace towards the steep incline of the cliff edge and landed heavily causing Naru's knees to nearly buckle and continued gliding down the steep incline.

Meanwhile back on the cliff edge, Mizuki and the oufan skidded to a stop before the cliff edge and Mizuki couldn't help gaping at the female hanyou who was literally surfing down the incline of the valley like a professional surfer riding the wave, except without the board.

He just could not believe the audacity of what the girl had just pulled and couldn't help but feel a twinge of begrudging respect for the hanyou girl.

"Got big brass ones don't she, bloody bitch" Mizuki muttered wondering if he would ever possess the balls to do something similar if he were in the same situation a she was.

Mizuki pointed at the hanyou girl who by then was entering the jungle like forest at the base of the Valley and shouted "Get her!" at the Oufan which jumped over the edge and started crawling down at a slightly slow pace but still a fair clip.

* * *

Naru and Iruka were now running through the dense forest of Death Gorge and Iruka was looking around in amazement, it was positively beautiful!

"Naru this place is amazing!" Iruka exclaimed and Naru flashed a grin.

"Now you know why I come here all the time, and if you think it is amazing now you should see it in the day time" she said with a grin and before taking on a grim visage "but enough gawking, we're not out of this yet!" she said with an unhappy tone and Iruka just nodded.

Iruka suddenly perked up when he suddenly realized something and asked "Why are we in Death Gorge in the first place? I mean, there is no help for us here"

Naru suddenly looked pensive and said "I'm not sure, but something is calling me to the center of the valley, something I think can help us"

Iruka looked down at Naru worriedly "Is this something related to those abilities you displayed back at the cottage?"

Naru just nodded "I think so yes" and Iruka just nodded and the two continued running.

* * *

A few minutes later they finally reached the middle of the valley and saw that the rumors of a spire being there were true. Naru felt the pull coming from the spire and ran towards it but when she reached it the pull abruptly vanished and Naru stumbled and skidded to a stop with the sudden loss of contact and Naru just stared dumbly panting heavily at where the pull was supposed to come from.

Noticing that they were not about to go anywhere Iruka motioned towards the spire beside them, and knowing what he wanted, Naru strode over to the towering spire and leant down to allow Iruka to get off and lean against the wall.

Just as she let him down Naru felt a sudden wave of exhaustion flow over her and she fell to her hands and knees panting for all she was worth.

Iruka jolted at her sudden collapse and attempted to move over to her but a wave of pain from his wounds prevented such. Despite her exhaustion Naru noticed Iruka's plight and waved him off.

"It's… alright… Ni-san… don't… worry… yourself" Naru spoke between pants, and paused to gain her breath before starting again "All that running around just caught up with me, but I'll be alright after a few minutes rest" she reassured him, though she knew that she would need more than a few minutes. She felt absolutely awful. Her lungs were on fire, she was soaked in sweat as were her clothes, her arms and legs were trembling like she had Parkinson's disease and they ached like hell, Naru slowly reached down to her leg pouch and pulled out a water bottle and started guzzling it like a camel that had gone with out drinking for a year.

Naru could feel Kyubi at work curing as much exhaustion as she could before Mizuki arrived "**I'm doing my best Kit but you have certainly out done yourself this time"** Kyubi said shaking her head in both worry and amusement

Naru just grinned and said "_I have haven't I Kyu-chan"_

Naru's ears suddenly perked up when she heard a big object quickly approaching through the dense forest and although she was very reluctant to do so and cursed fluently in three different languages while doing so, slowly got up to her feet and settled into a tai chi defense pose, knowing that she would need to conserve her strength.

Mizuki and the oufan burst out of the trees and skidded to a stop just a few meters away.

The oufan stood nearly fifteen meters tall and it stood upon four scaly reverse jointed legs with three toed hooves. It had a body like a snake, and a long tail with a scorpion stinger on the end, it's upper torso stood upright like a humans, and it had six scorpion like arms with claws on the ends, it had eyes like a flies, all bulbous and multifaceted and finally its mouth was like a spiders with those two mandibles. It was a bluely green color and all up, it was an ugly son of a bitch, but no one could doubt that it was definitely strong.

Mizuki looked down at the exhausted looking hanyou before and grinned maliciously, knowing that it wouldn't be long now. He will be free of Konoha, he will have his oufan, and he will have his scroll of forbidden techniques, which he noted the girl was still carrying on her back, life was good.

Miziki smirked with a superior than thou look on his face and said "Time to die bitch, but before you do, I think I will kill Iruka first, to punish you for making me chase you this far, which I applause you for, any other being would have collapsed half way, what with you running that fast, while carrying that lout on your back"

Naru could no longer stand it and with a scream of anger ran and jumped at Mizuki fist cocked to hit him while screaming "YOU WON"T TOUCH NI-SAN!!" only to be hit back by one of the oufans claws and crashed into the ground back where she started.

Naru was seeing stars but managed to get back up clutching her side where the blow was, fortunately she hadn't been cut by the sharp looking claws thanks to her fire rat clothing which absorbed the majority of the impact.

Mizuki just waved a finger at her shaking his head saying "no no no Naru, bad girl, you must stay still and watch me kill your precious Ni-san" he finished with a blood thirsty voice.

Naru just spat out some blood and shouted "You won't touch him monster!" before wincing in pain and sinking to her knees.

Mizuki just smiled cruelly and jumped down and started walking over to her saying "All your dreams, all your hopes, all that you hold dear and all that you have accomplished and gained" he reached out to grab her hair painfully and pulled her face up to his and said almost demonically "Please give me the pleasure of taking them away"

Naru suddenly felt a wave of righteous anger, defiance and protective instincts well up in her as flashes of Iruka, Old Man Hokage, Kyubi, Tessai and all her friends from the academy and bit and pieces of good times with all of them flashed through her mind and she suddenly felt the strange power in her heart flare even higher, and higher, as if it was trying to break free, and suddenly Naru knew what to do.

And with a sudden burst of energy Naru twisted her body out of Mizuki's grip and quickly jumped away and landed in a crouch a few meters away and in front of Iruka

and stood up straight legs planted firmly on the ground and shouted in defiance "I wont let you take them from me, not when my life is finally amounting to mean something!, not after all I have been through!!, I wont let you!!!"

Resolve shown in her eyes and she drew on the power, aiding it in breaking the barrier and it was at that moment that the barrier between Naru and the fiery power within her soul was shattered and her heart burst and Naru's body and the whole area around her was awash with fire.

Mizuki was forced to jump back from the shear heat she was generating and the oufan reared back as well and Iruka just watched in awe as the flames didn't seem to want to harm him. Iruka and Mizuki watched in awe as the fire that seemed to enclose her within its depths swirled around her, Naru felt the power building up, becoming almost pleasurable and then as if on cue, slowly closed her eyes and lifted he arms up beside her palms facing the sky and then as if following her command, the flames raced and condensed around her and then all the two men could see was a spear of fire stabbing into the heavens.

Both Iruka and Mizuki could feel the sheer power being displayed but they felt that it wasn't chakra they were feeling but something else, but where as one wasn't afraid at all knowing somehow he was safe, the other was terrified, where was this power coming from? It isn't chakra! It isn't the Kyubi's power!

The pillar sudden lost density, and although it was still stabbing into the heavens it was no longer a solid pillar, it was more like a helix slowly rotating into the sky, and they could see Naru floating in the air a couple meters above the ground, slowly twirling around in the same direction as the helix.

* * *

Naru was in ecstasy! She didn't know how she could have felt so unsure and worried about this power!, she could feel it flowing through her veins through out her body and warming her soul, healing her scars, mentally, emotionally, physically, it felt like someone had opened her veins and poured essence of pleasure and healing into them, it felt so good. 

The awakening was nearing it's climax and Naru couldn't help moaning in pleasure and ecstasy when it climaxed and she felt four nodes of power settle around her wrists and ankles.

Four rings, suddenly materialized around said positions, these rings were a fiery golden color, and interspersed evenly around each of them were three emerald jewels and three golden jewels, each of which glowed with their own internal power.

Naru opened her eyes slowly, as if waking from a deep slumber, and beheld her new armaments in gratified awe, the rings were floating around her wrists and ankles spinning around clockwise and they were alight with fire.

Naru looked at them in awe and then she noticed something surprising and said with a lilt of wonder in her voice "They're not hot!" then she saw that she was floating some two meters off the ground and gasped in surprise.

As she watched the rings spin around she suddenly aware of a name ariseing in her mind unbidden from the depths of her soul and Naru uttered the name that she felt resonate with her new found powers.

"HiME Element: Inferno Spirals!" Naru said and the rings flared brightly in response.

By now Mizuki was terrified and he had had enough of the girls constant defiance against all odds. He pointed at both Iruka and Naru and screamed "KILL THEM!!"

Naru heard Mizuki's scream and quickly turned around only to see the oufan rushing at her limbs slashing, eyes alight with bloodlust.

Naru narrowed her eyes in defiance and resolve and shouted "I told you Mizuki! I WONT LET YOU!!" and rose her hands towards the slashing and roaring oufan and the spirals lit up with power and to her surprise a lash of dense looking fire spurted as if from her hands and whipped out at the oufan driving it back as if it was pushed back by an enormous hand and gave it some painful looking burns and Naru was aware of the lash continuing with the arc of her arms and cutting deeply into the rock face behind her sending crashing down to the ground a great deal of rocky debris which nearly landed on Iruka causing him yelp and Naru heaved a sigh of relief when she saw him unharmed.

Naru then looked at her hands in astonishment, she did that? And Naru couldn't help uttering a marveled "Cool!" she wondered if she could control the affects and shrugged, no time like the present to find out.

Naru focused on the spirals and willed herself to move upwards and to her utmost delight and relief instantly flew upwards. She experimented with flying for a couple seconds and found that it was very easy and that she was able to fly in any direction possible and at which ever speed she choose and with that she looked at the oufan in resolution and dived at it, nimbly dodging all the blows as it struck out at her, tail flowing behind her. Naru continued having fun flying around making the beast angry when her danger sense tingled and she ducked quickly and saw that Mizuki had thrown a Kunai at her, desperation clear on his visage and he threw another barrage of kunai and it was almost too late before she noticed each of them had activated explosion tags burning on them and she barely manage to raise her hands and willed the barrier from before to form and once again the fire colored barrier rose and rendered the barrage of explosive kunai useless. She saw that this time there were three magatamas spinning in a circle in front of her as if to show that the barrier was working.

Naru looked down at Mizuki in worry wondering silently what he would do now and her worst fears were confirmed when he shouted at the oufan "Ignore her! Kill Iruka!"

The oufan instantly jumped over Naru and went after Iruka causing Naru to gasp and turn around as quick as she could and flew as fast as she could to get to him before the fast oufan could.

Iruka could do nothing as the oufan loomed up before him and stabbed at him with one of it's great claws and he let out a small scream of fear while tensing and looking away on instinct when he heard a whoosh and a crash of something heavy against a barrier of some sort. He looked up and saw Naru in front of him holding off the great beast with her barrier.

Naru gritted her teeth as the beast struck down at her again and again and again in rapid succession like a battering ram. She felt the impact against her arms each time and she felt herself slowly being pushed back against the rock face and found herself thankful that her barrier held true despite the relentless assault otherwise she and Iruka would be nothing but a smear on the ground. She felt her back slam against the rocky wall and braced herself against it to weather out the attack, she could hear Mizuki laughing crazily, shouting that he has got them now and Naru ground her teeth even harder in anger at that.

The barrage kept on coming relentlessly and Naru continued holding the barrier, but despite the barrier being seemingly invulnerable, she felt her energy slowly slipping away, she got weaker and weaker, and she started fearing for her life. Naru felt tears welling up in her eyes, and blinked them away and cried desperately in her mind '_I don't want to die! Please, Someone help me!"_ and it seemed someone heard.

It came as a complete surprise when something pulsed behind her and the oufan was suddenly flying through the air and crashed to the ground a fair ways away after a wave of energy emerged from the rock face behind her and pushed it away, where it landed very nearly on top of Mizuki and Mizuki was blown away, temporarily stunned

Naru just stared at the sight stupefied '_What was that' _she wondered and Kyubi also stared at what had happened but couldn't help but feel relieved, it was starting to get dangerous back there.

Iruka was also gaping at the unbelievable sight that he had just witnessed but he was also relieved that the oufan was no longer assaulting them. Iruka suddenly saw a greenish light pulse in the corner of his eyes that was coming from the rock face behind Naru.

Iruka called out "Naru! Behind you!" while pointing behind her.

Naru just blinked and murmured "What, Behind me?" It was then that Naru felt the pulsing behind her, and she swiveled around and gasped.

There were some sort of markings on the rock face, and they were glowing a steady green. She reached out to touch them and at the contact, her heart stopped for a moment and she felt something like as electric shock. Then it started, sending pulse after pulse of energy thumping through her body. In her mind, she felt the echo of a colossal heartbeat matching the rhythm of her racing heart.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and she fell into what felt like a trance and a visage of something she couldn't quite discern suddenly appeared before her eyes and bowed before her, crooning in a comforting tone. Naru suddenly heard a voice in her head.

"_**You have finally come for me Mistress!!"**_ a joyous, child like voice reverberated through her head and Naru started and shouted out in surprise "Who are you?'

The child like voice replied "_**I am your Child partner Mistress! I have waiting so long to join you Mistress, I have been watching you, waiting for you, and I was so angry at the villagers and at myself for unable to help you, I was meant to guard you, but you got hurt and it made me so sad, but if you release me, I can finally protect you like I'm meant to!"**_

Naru shook her head at the little tirade, the voice was filled with childish excitement and eagerness and Naru felt her heart soften at the anguish and guilt at her treatment, and she felt her heart warm at the beings desire to protect her, and despite herself, she couldn't help but begin smiling. She suddenly realized something and spoke up.

"Wait a minute, my Child partner? And what is your name?" Naru asked, feeling an unknown anticipation that she couldn't explain.

The being smiled (at least she thought it was a smile) and said "_**My name is Kagutsuchi"**_ and Naru felt her soul flare in response and she felt it reverberate deeply within her psyche and she knew somehow that she would never forget that name no matter what she tried and she asked "and the bit about you being my Child?"

Kagutsuchi nodded solemnly and said seriously "_**That birth mark you possess, the red comet like one on you chest" **_and Naru placed a hand over said birth mark_** "That sigil proclaims you to be a HiME wielder, and every HiME has a chosen guardian called a Child who is bound to her soul along with her element. I am your Child chosen to fight for you and protect you. The Inferno Spirals which you possess are your elements**_"

Naru just nodded but paused feeling that something was being left out and said "There's more to this, isn't there."

Kagutsuchi rumbled in agreement "_**If you choose to fight alongside with me you have to be prepared to put that which is most precious to you on the line, meaning that if I die, that which is most precious to you will disappear along with me, never to return**_"

Naru narrowed her eyes, her most precious possession? She was about to ask another question when her sences started screaming danger and she whirled around and saw a roaring oufan running at her, bloodlust and ki froze her body and she let out a startled scream

* * *

As Mizuki rose back into consciousness he stifled a groan of pain as he grabbed his head at the onset of a blazing headache, then as he remembered what happened, a rush of anger flooded through him, dispelling any fear he may have had. 

"That bitch will pay!!!" Mizuki roared and as soon as the oufan got up he shouted "KILL THEM NOW, NO MATER WHAT IT TAKES, KILL THEM!!!" anger and hate twisted his voice so much it sounded like he was a demon, and the malicious feelings from Mizuki only goaded the oufan on and it became even more blood thirsty than before

* * *

Naru watched in ki induced fear as the oufan raced to kill her when she heard Kagutsuchi's cry "_**Mistress! Release me! Let me help you!"**_

Naru snapped out of her terrified stupor and reacting on instinct dodged the oufans blow causing it to over shoot her and lost balance trying to twist around to kill her and Naru capitalized by flying down and slashing the ham string muscle of the beast causing it to fall down.

Kagutsuchi cried "_**Grab the sword"**_

Naru flew over to the sword, and settled above it and grabbed it, the sword started glowing and fire spurted out from the base.

The Oufan got up, Mizuki screaming to kill the girl.

"_**Pull it out and cry out…"**_

The Oufan turned to her.

Naru started pulling and the sword glowed even brighter, and it came free in a rush of flames.

Naru roared to the heavens "KAGUTSUCHI!!!!" and flew off as the sword fell to the ground and stabbed the earth and began glowing even brighter.

A red pulse of power from the earth welled up. And another and another. Suddenly, a circle of fire roared forth from the ground, surrounding her in a raging inferno but she did not burn.

The oufan was forced back by the sudden wall of fire that had emerged when Naru pulled out the sword and shouted out the name, Mizuki looked on in horror and terror at the sea of fire that had emerged from the ground, first it was those rings and now the girl was summoning a creature from hell!

Iruka looked on in consternation, awe and just a little bit of apprehension, he had been worried that they would not survive this night, but this moment might just be the turn of the tide. He had faith in that Naru knew what she was doing, he made a promise to trust her, and so he would, but a sea of fire emerging from the ground? One couldn't help but be slightly cynical.

Naru looked on as the fires continued to burn fiercely, she was wondering what her Child would look like, she ha seem many different oufans in the stable, many of them fearsome looking and some that were beautiful, some that were down right ugly, but she instinctively knew that Kagutsuchi would be something unique.

The fires slowly shrunk down but still continued to burn fiercely when suddenly Naru saw something and gasped as a great white Majestic dragon emerged from the flames. Its head had a sword of some sort stuck in its great jaws, it had six eyes green, with red cat like pupils, three on each side of its head just above the lips, It had four projections on the sides of its head two on top and two below its jaw and they each a green jewel set in them. Then it had another projection on its fore head again with a green jewel inset.

It had a long neck flexible neck with two rows of spines on either side of its backbone going down its length and more went along its back and long tail all the way to the tip. On the underside of its neck it had a mane of hair and it had thin black tattoos along the sides.

Its torso was mechanical looking with red armor like shoulders and then yellow jewels further down on the front. Two great mechanical vents where in the middle and then at the base of the tail there were two spinning devices, which Naru later found were energy generators.

Then Naru's eyes beheld the great wings of fire on its back. They were attached to the shoulders and Naru saw that when spread they would be almost fifty meters wide, there were also two long strands on the bottom of the wings which she could only liken to kite tail, they could be deadly for an enemy on the ground. Then finally two great big muscled arms protruded from under the wings so as to not be in the way. There were also two great hands adored with some mean looking claws.

She then saw that all up he was about 70 meters long from head to the tip of his tail and ten meters wide not including the wings

All in all, Kagutsuchi was one deadly looking creature, highly intimidating to its enemies, Majestic and courage inspiring to its allies. It also exerted one hell of a presence.

Kyubi looked at the creature in awe, although it looked bio-mechanical she knew what the creature resembled quite closely, she never thought to see one, as they were legends even to the Biju, Kyubi uttered a name in astonished awe which Naru heard and nodded in agreement. A Dragon Phoenix. An appropriate name.

Kagutsuchi suddenly moved his head and looked at her and moved towards her and Naru couldn't help moving away a bit in momentary fear, then Kagutsuchi crooned in reassuring tones towards her and Naru felt herself calming down and a warm feeling crept through her heart.

"Kagutsuchi" she uttered lovingly, moving and petting him on the snout and Kagutsuchi gently nuzzled her, making her giggle, she knew then that she would not regret Kagutsuchi's presence in her life and a feeling emerged that she had only ever felt in Kyubi's presence in her mind, peace, contentment and safety.

Naru's danger senses suddenly blared and she turned around to see the oufan jumping through the air she barely had enough time to raise her barrier and due to the oufans weight, Naru was driven into the ground. The pressure was enormous and she felt something in her chest break and she suddenly coughed up some blood, she grimaced at the familiar taste, she had tasted it many times. She continued to keep the barrier up but was about to loose it when suddenly she heard an angered draconic roar and she watched as Kagutsuchi swiveled around with a speed that belied his size and whipped out with his tail to batter the oufan away. Naru dazedly noticed that Kagutsuchi didn't have any rear legs instead preferring to just float in the air while moving or curling up on the ground like a snake.

Kagutsuchi gave one flap of his fiery wings and rose up into the air and gave a defiant roar. Naru rose into a crouch favoring her right side while clutching her left rib cage, probably two broken ribs, they'll healed overnight but they still hurt terribly. She limped over to Iruka to make sure he was protected.

Kagutsuchi opened his jaws to reveal some pretty impressive teeth and great gouts of steam. All of a sudden Kagutsuchi started sucking various bits of debris with some sort of device, Naru could only assume that he was preparing for some sort big attack. Kagutsuchi continued gathering material when suddenly his chest expanded and a red light could be seen going along his neck to his mouth.

Mizuki was watching in terror as Kagutsuchi charged up his attack. He knew deep down, that he has lost, as his oufan was out for the count, and Naru along with the beast was too powerful for him to overcome.

Naru watched as the red light approached Kagutsuchi's mouth and felt a sudden foreboding. Kagutsuchi reared back his head and then when the light reached his mouth he thrust it forward and breathed out, and the biggest and most darn powerful fireball Naru and Iruka had ever seen launched out of his mouth and screamed at great velocity at the downed oufan and by proxy, Mizuki.

Naru screamed "Get down!" and rose a barrier to protect herself and Iruka.

Mizuki didn't have time to scream when the fire ball hit the oufan, as both were instantly vaporized and then fire ball exploded.

Naru watched in growing terror as the wall of destruction approached her and Iruka and instinctively closed her eyes and she was about to scream when she felt a great presence above her and she felt herself along with Iruka being scooped up and then she was flying through the air at great speed. Naru slowly opened her eyes and saw that they were being carried but Kagutsuchi!

Naru cried out "Thank you Kagutsuchi! You saved us!" and Kagutsuchi looked at her and crooned and clicked softly, projections twitching gently in time and Naru grinned and then she looked down at the explosion they were circling. She gave a whistle, very impressed with the size of it. She suddenly noticed Iruka coming out of shock beside her and she turned to him.

"Iruka-Nisan, you alright?" she said to Iruka who took a few moments to focus and rubbed a sore spot on head that made him wince and turned to Naru with a sheepish expression.

"Yeah somehow, although I wasn't much help back there…" Iruka trailed off as he suddenly noticed that he was currently being carried by the dragon he saw earlier, a dragon that was _flying_ a thousand feet in the air!

Iruka stifled a panicked shout and slowly looked over Kagutsuchi's paw, at the ground below him. He couldn't help giving a low whistle as he looked over at the amazing view below and he felt Naru beside him and she gave a squeal of delight.

Iruka felt sunlight hit his eyelids, and suddenly realized that they had been fighting through out the night. Naru looked up when she felt the sunlight and gave an amazed gasp as her face broke into a beautiful smile when she saw the most amazing sunrise that she had ever seen and she couldn't help thinking that the sun was welcoming her into the next part of her life, for because of the sudden emergence of her HiME powers, her life was looking much brighter for the young hanyou. Iruka looked at the sunrise for a few minutes before looking at Naru as she sat arms spread wide enjoying the brisk wind blowing through her hair and ruffling her tail.

Iruka suddenly remembered something "Naru come here for a moment" motioning Naru over, who looked at him curiously and scooted over to sit in front of him.

Iruka said "Close your eyes" and Naru looked at him questionably but complied. She felt something wrap around her forehead and get tied at the back and then Iruka said "Okay you can open them now"

Naru opened her eyes and didn't notice any difference at first then she noticed that Iruka was no longer wearing his headband and her hand flew up were she felt a metal plate with the Konoha symbol on it. She looked at Iruka in astonishment who grinned proudly.

"Congratulations on passing, Naru-chan" Iruka beamed proudly, only to have his arms suddenly filled with a joyously crying Naru.

Inside her Kyubi smiled gently and murmured softly "**Congratulations Kit, you made it, you really deserve this more than anyone, I am very proud of you**" Naru just continued holding Iruka who held her close while crying softly with a content smile on her face.

* * *

Watching through a crystal ball, the Sandaime Hokage smiled at the happy looking hanyou. 

"You definitely deserve it Naru, I have a feeling that you are going to become one of the most powerful Kunoichi's in Konoha History, not to mention most powerful Hokage"

Sarutobi got up and went to tell the jounins that it was alright now and that the search was to be called off, the scroll was safe, Naru was innocent of any crime, and that the real culprit had been dealt with. It's going to be a good day today!

* * *

Iruka let go when he felt her pull away and looked at her with a smile "You really know how to go about with a bang don't you Naru-chan" while reaching over to ruffle her hair causing Naru to giggle. Iruka suddenly remembered something and with a mischievous smile moved his hand to scratch Naru behind her ear. He wondered if it would affect her like it would a dog and it seemed it did, because Naru assumed a contentedly pleasured expression and leant into the comforting touch of his hand scratching her ear and nuzzled it like a fox would and she even started purring, causing Iruka to chuckle and he continued scratching until he eventually pulled away causing Naru to whimper and Kyubi to chuckle, she has found a new source of blackmail, although she was happy for her. 

Iruka waited until Naru was more coherent and said "Naru about this dragon?"

Naru perked up and spoke too her partner "Kagutsuchi could you take us to the front gates please?" Kagutsuchi crooned an affirmative and turned towards Konoha.

Naru then turned to Iruka and started speaking about Kagutsuchi and her elements and about the fact that she was a HiME and about the relationship she had with them and after a little prompting, she even told him about how she got so skilled at taijutsu, and about the fact of why she was hiding her true self.

Turned out that due to the fact that nobody was willing to train her in ninjutsu and she sucked at creating genjutsu but was very good at dispelling them she needed a sure safe way to defend herself against attackers, which in her life was an occupational hazard as a Jinchuriki, so she had Kyubi train her in taijutsu, who actually knew quite a lot of human taijutsu styles, both existing, an extinct. She then talked about that due to her being a Jinchuriki of the most powerful demon in existence, her very being was affected at the molecular level and turned her into a half human half kitsune hybrid. It was actually quite a boon, as she was now able to safely use Kyubi's power, meaning youki, just as easily as she can chakra, due to her demon blood, not to mention the other assets as well. It all contributed to her surviving while growing up, through both the good times… and the bad times, which was most of the time.

A few minutes later Iruka sat in Kagutsuchi's paw stroking his chin and said "That is a lot to take in Naru, but by what I saw, you are definitely going to become quite powerful and with Kagutsuchi at your side, I have doubts that you are going to fulfill your dream of becoming Hokage" causing Naru to beam happily and cheer loudly in her mind causing Kyubi to smile, she has finally gotten someone who believes her, besides the Sandaime of course.

Iruka then took a more solemn expression and said "I'm sorry Naru, for the fact that your life has been a constant struggle and that I didn't help you earlier you must have been so lonely."

Naru just smiled and hugged Iruka gently "That's alright Ni-san, I'm just happy to have you in my life now" and Iruka smiled and said softly "Thank you… Little sister"

And if he thought that Naru was affectionate before, he was stupefied, at Naru's joyous scream of delight and big hug when he finally called her 'Little Sister'.


	4. Urgent Message!

Hey, sorry about the delay but I have only recently scrounged up enough motivation to start updating again, and there were also a few things I had to think about.

One is the pairing, I just can't get around it I LOVE NARU/SAKU PAIRINGS!!! But I am not comfortable with writing a girl/girl pairing even if I do like them, but being from a Christian background I just don't feel comfortable doing an exclusive Naru chan/Sakura pairing so I have come up with a solution.

I am going to rewrite all my material from a femnaru fic to a normal fic.

Naruto will still have his hime powers as that from my point of view the Hime star forced the elements and childs to pick exclusively female partners after gaining forceful control of them so when they were freed Kagutsuchi decided for a change and picked naruto.

Also this is not going to be an exclusive Naruto/My Hime crossover fic. My imagination is to grandiose and impressive to be limited to only those two (Disregard the superior tone please) I am going give naruto other powers to master and a special ability which will allow me to bring other favorite animes into my fic.

Told you I was going to write an epic fic.

So it wont be to much longer before I update with the new story, here is the description of the new fic I'm writing. I'm still thinking of a title.

Chakra, Youki, Magic, Reiatsu, HIME. The five great dimensional powers will converge onto one being. Many Adventures, Many Worlds, One destiny. May the chronicles of the Jinchuriki Naruto Kazama begin.


End file.
